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The current rate of species extinction is rapidly approaching unprecedented highs, and life on Earth presently faces a sixth mass extinction event driven by anthropogenic activity, climate change, and ecological collapse. The field of conservation genetics aims at preserving species by using their levels of genetic diversity, usually measured as neutral genome-wide diversity, as a barometer for evaluating population health and extinction risk. A fundamental assumption is that higher levels of genetic diversity lead to an increase in fitness and long-term survival of a species. Here, we argue against the perceived importance of neutral genetic diversity for the conservation of wild populations and species. We demonstrate that no simple general relationship exists between neutral genetic diversity and the risk of species extinction. Instead, a better understanding of the properties of functional genetic diversity, demographic history, and ecological relationships is necessary for developing and implementing effective conservation genetic strategies.

Researchers, policy makers and science communicators have become increasingly been interested in factors that affect public’s trust in science. Recently, one such potentially important driving factor has emerged, the COVID-19 pandemic. Have trust in science and other science-related beliefs changed in Germany from before to during the pandemic? To investigate this, we re-analyzed data from a set of representative surveys conducted in April, May, and November 2020, which were obtained as part of the German survey Science Barometer , and compared it to data from the last annual Science Barometer survey that took place before the pandemic, (in September 2019). Results indicate that German’s trust in science increased substantially after the pandemic began and slightly declined in the months thereafter, still being higher in November 2020 than in September 2019. Moreover, trust was closely related to expectations about how politics should handle the pandemic. We also find that increases of trust were most pronounced among the higher-educated. But as the pandemic unfolded, decreases of trust were more likely among supporters of the populist right-wing party AfD. We discuss the sustainability of these dynamics as well as implications for science communication.

Tunneling conductance among nanoparticle arrays is extremely sensitive to the spacing of nanoparticles and might be applied to fabricate ultra-sensitive sensors. Such sensors are of paramount significance for various application, such as automotive systems and consumer electronics. Here, we represent a sensitive pressure sensor which is composed of a piezoresistive strain transducer fabricated from closely spaced nanoparticle films deposited on a flexible membrane. Benefited from this unique quantum transport mechanism, the thermal noise of the sensor decreases significantly, providing the opportunity for our devices to serve as high-performance pressure sensors with an ultrahigh resolution as fine as about 0.5 Pa and a high sensitivity of 0.13 kPa −1 . Moreover, our sensor with such an unprecedented response capability can be operated as a barometric altimeter with an altitude resolution of about 1 m. The outstanding behaviors of our devices make nanoparticle arrays for use as actuation materials for pressure measurement. Designing reliable piezoresistive pressure sensors based on percolative nanoparticle (NP) arrays remains a challenge. Here, the authors propose a percolative NP array sensor deposited on a flexible membrane with ultra-high sensitivity and resolution by modifying the thickness of the membrane.

This article explores how time interacts forcefully with the experience of living within toxic spaces. Through ethnographic research and interviews with residents of a contaminated town in Louisiana, the article unpacks the uncertain temporalities of industrial pollution and potential means of resistance. Putting Mbembe's (2003) postcolonial treatise on necropolitics in conversation with Nixon's (2011) work on slow violence, the article examines the racialized, uneven, and attritional experience of petrochemical pollution in a former plantation landscape. By exploring the necropolitics of place, the article reveals how unjust exposure to toxic chemicals creates contemporary \"death-worlds\" that are experienced in temporally uncertain and constricting ways. The oppressive nature of uncertain temporality makes the material assemblages of petrochemical infrastructure daily environmental concerns. Yet by focusing on the lived experience of communities inhabiting this toxic geography, the article notes how witnessing gradual changes to the local environment has become a barometer for perceiving chronic pollution. The idea of \"slow observation\" is posited as a useful counterpoint to slow violence and the permanent wounding of toxic pollution. Slow observation is an important aspect of living with sustained environmental brutality and offers a potential means of political resistance and doing undone environmental justice.

Following the popularity of smart phones and the development of mobile Internet, the demands for accurate indoor positioning have grown rapidly in recent years. Previous indoor positioning methods focused on plane locations on a floor and did not provide accurate floor positioning. In this paper, we propose a method that uses multiple barometers as references for the floor positioning of smart phones with built-in barometric sensors. Some related studies used barometric formula to investigate the altitude of mobile devices and compared the altitude with the height of the floors in a building to obtain the floor number. These studies assume that the accurate height of each floor is known, which is not always the case. They also did not consider the difference in the barometric-pressure pattern at different floors, which may lead to errors in the altitude computation. Our method does not require knowledge of the accurate heights of buildings and stories. It is robust and less sensitive to factors such as temperature and humidity and considers the difference in the barometric-pressure change trends at different floors. We performed a series of experiments to validate the effectiveness of this method. The results are encouraging.

Calcic, igneous amphiboles are of special interest as their compositional diversity and common occurrence provide ample potential to investigate magmatic processes. But not all amphibole-based barometers lead to geologically useful information: recent and new tests reaffirm prior studies (e.g., ), indicating that amphibole barometers are generally unable to distinguish between experiments conducted at 1 atm and at higher pressures, except under highly restrictive conditions. And the fault might not lie with experimental failure. Instead, the problem may relate to an intrinsic sensitivity of amphiboles to temperature ( ) and liquid composition, rather than pressure. The exceptional conditions are those identified by : current amphibole barometers are more likely to be useful when < 800 °C and Fe# = Fe / (Fe +Mg ) < 0.65. Experimentally grown and natural calcic amphiboles are here used to investigate amphibole solid solution behavior, and to calibrate new thermometers and tentative amphibole barometers that should be applicable to igneous systems generally. Such analysis reveals that amphiboles are vastly less complex than may be inferred from published catalogs of end-member components. Most amphiboles, for example, consist largely of just three components: pargasite [NaCa (Fm Al)Si Al ], kaersutite [NaCa (Fm Ti)Si Al (OH)], and tremolite + ferro-actinolite [Ca Fm Si (OH) , where Fm = Fe+Mn+Mg]. And nearly all remaining compositionalvariation can be described with just four others: alumino-tschermakite [Ca (Fm Al )Si Al (OH) ], a Na-K-gedrite-like component [(Na, K)Fm AlSi Al (OH) ], a ferri-ferrotschermakite-like component [Ca (Fm Fe )Si Al (OH) ], and an as yet unrecognized component with 3 to 4 Al atoms per formula unit (apfu), 1 apfu each of Na and Ca, and <6 Si apfu, here termed aluminous kaersutite: NaCaFm Ti(Fe , Al) Si Al (OH). None of these components, however, are significantly pressure ( ) sensitive, leaving the Al-in-amphibole approach, with all its challenges, the best existing hope for an amphibole barometer. A new empirical barometer based on successfully differentiates experimental amphiboles crystallized at 1 to 8 kbar, at least when multiple estimates, from multiple amphibole compositions, are averaged. Without such averaging however, amphibole barometry is a less certain proposition, providing ±2 kbar precision on individual estimates for calibration data, and ±4 kbar at best for test data; independent checks on are thus needed. Amphibole compositions, however, provide for very effective thermometers, here based on , , and amphibole compositions alone, with precisions of ±30 °C. These new models, and tests for equilibrium, are collectively applied to Augustine volcano and the 2010 eruption at Merapi. Both localities reveal a significant cooling and crystallization interval (>190–270 °C) at pressures of 0.75 to 2.2 kbar at Augustine and Merapi, respectively, perhaps the likely depths from which pre-eruption magmas are stored. Such considerable intervals of cooling at shallow depths indicate that mafic magma recharge is not a proximal cause of eruption. Rather, eruption triggering is perhaps best explained by the classic “second boiling” concept, where post-recharge cooling and crystallization drive a magmatic system toward vapor saturation and positive buoyancy.

By monitoring the movement of the body’s centre of mass during daily-living activities, it is possible to gather information on an individual’s functional capacity and quantify key abilities such as lower limb strength, postural control and dynamic stability. To this end, a wearable inertial measurement unit attached to the lower back can offer a practical solution for analysing CoM movement in real-world conditions. However, accelerometer-based measurements are prone to drift, limiting their suitability for long-term monitoring. To mitigate these effects, miniaturized high-resolution barometers can be integrated to provide stable direct height measurements. In this study, we developed and validated a method for the reconstruction of the vertical displacement of the centre of mass during daily activities (Transition-Based Complementary Filter). The method consisted of two steps: first, the transition intervals within which vertical displacements of the centre of mass occur are identified, then, within these intervals, the complementary filter is applied to estimate the vertical displacement. Validation was carried out on twenty healthy subjects wearing an inertial unit and a barometer on the lower back, while a marker-based stereophotogrammetry system served as reference. Participants performed a series of motor tasks replicating typical home-based activities, including standing, sitting, lying, squatting, and stair climbing. The method demonstrated high accuracy, achieving a median root mean square error of 0.02 m and a median concordance correlation coefficient of 98 %. These findings underscore its robustness and clinical utility, paving the way for improved rehabilitation strategies and enhanced patient outcomes.

The nonstationary roles of regional forcings from alongshore wind stress and sea level pressure (SLP) in driving low‐frequency (interannual‐to‐decadal) sea level variability along the U.S. east coast for the 1959–2020 period are investigated. The role of regional forcings increases with time north of Cape Hatteras particularly during summer when their contributions to the variance of observed summertime coastal sea level anomalies increase by approximately 58%–87% from 1959–1989 to 1990–2020. The enhanced impact of regional forcings in recent decades results from an increase in the Inverted Barometer (IB) effect that act constructively with alongshore wind stress especially during summer, and to a lesser extent for the Gulf of Maine during fall. The summertime North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is largely responsible for the increased IB effect, owing to the stronger NAO‐associated low SLP anomalies centered around the Mid‐Atlantic Bight in recent decades compared to earlier decades. Plain Language Summary Alongshore wind stress and sea level pressure (SLP) are important regional forces in driving low‐frequency (interannual‐to‐decadal) sea level anomalies along the U.S. east coast. The roles of these regional forcings, however, vary with time, season, and region, which can shift the location and change the frequency and intensity of coastal flooding. In this study, we find that regional forcings contribute more to observed sea level variability north of Cape Hatteras in recent decades (1990–2020) compared to earlier decades (1959–1989), particularly during summer. The increased role of regional forcings results from SLP variability via the Inverted Barometer (IB) effect, which exhibits a significant upward trend during summer with lower (higher) SLP raising (suppressing) sea level. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is largely responsible for the increased role of IB effect because the lower SLP anomalies related to the NAO have become more prominent north of Cape Hatteras in recent decades. Although winter NAO has been shown to be important for affecting the coastal sea level anomalies, it is the summer NAO effect that is enhanced via the IB effect, accounting for the enhanced regional forcing in recent decades. Key Points The sea‐level variance explained by regional forcings increases with time north of Cape Hatteras due to the Inverted Barometer effect Lower sea level pressure centered around Mid‐Atlantic Bight favors more contributions of the Inverted Barometer effect in recent decades The summertime North Atlantic Oscillation is largely responsible for the increased role of the Inverted Barometer effect

Pressure is one of the key variables that controls magmatic phase equilibria. However, estimating magma storage pressures from erupted products can be challenging. Various barometers have been developed over the past two decades that exploit the pressure-sensitive incorporation of jadeite (Jd) into clinopyroxene. These Jd-in-clinopyroxene barometers have been applied to rift zone magmas from Iceland, where published estimates of magma storage depths span the full thickness of the crust, and extend into the mantle. However, tests performed on commonly used clinopyroxene-liquid barometers with data from experiments on H2O-poor tholeiites in the 1 atm to 10 kbar range reveal substantial pressure-dependent inaccuracies, with some models overestimating pressures of experimental products equilibrated at 1 atm by up to 3 kbar. The pressures of closed-capsule experiments in the 1-5 kbar range are also overestimated, and such errors cannot be attributed to Na loss, as is the case in open furnace experiments. The following barometer was calibrated from experimental data in the 1 atm to 20 kbar range to improve the accuracy of Jd-in-clinopyroxene barometry at pressures relevant to magma storage in the crust: P(kbar) = -26.27+39.16T(K)/104ln [XJdCpx/XNaO0.5liq XAlO1.5liq (XSiO2liq)2]-4.22ln(XDiHdCpx)+78.43XAlO1.5liq+393.81(X NaO0.5liq XKO0.5liq)2. This new barometer accurately reproduces its calibration data with a standard error of estimate (SEE) of ±1.4 kbar, and is suitable for use on hydrous and anhydrous samples that are ultramafic to intermediate in composition, but should be used with caution below 1100 °C and at oxygen fugacities greater than one log unit above the QFM buffer. Tests performed using with data from experiments on H2O-poor tholeiites reveal that 1 atm runs were overestimated by less than the model precision (1.2 kbar); the new calibration is significantly more accurate than previous formulations. Many current estimates of magma storage pressures may therefore need to be reassessed. To this end, the new barometer was applied to numerous published clinopyroxene analyses from Icelandic rift zone tholeiites that were filtered to exclude compositions affected by poor analytical precision or collected from disequilibrium sector zones. Pressures and temperatures were then calculated using the new barometer in concert with Equation 33 from Putirka (2008) Putative equilibrium liquids were selected from a large database of Icelandic glass and whole-rock compositions using an iterative scheme because most clinopyroxene analyses were too primitive to be in equilibrium with their host glasses. High-Mg# clinopyroxenes from the highly primitive Borgarhraun eruption in north Iceland record a mean storage pressure in the lower crust (5.7 kbar). All other eruptions considered record mean pressures in the mid-crust, with primitive clinopyroxene populations recording slightly higher pressures (3.1-3.6 kbar) than evolved populations (2.6-2.8 kbar). Thus, while some magma processing takes place in the shallow crust immediately beneath Iceland's central volcanoes, magma evolution under the island's neovolcanic rift zones is dominated by mid-crustal processes.

Changes in the composite stock price index are a barometer of social and economic development. To improve the accuracy of stock price index prediction, this paper introduces a new hybrid model, VMD-LSTM, that combines variational mode decomposition (VMD) and a long short-term memory (LSTM) network. The proposed model is based on decomposition-and-ensemble framework. VMD is a data-processing technique through which the original complex series can be decomposed into a limited number of subseries with relatively simple modes of fluctuations. It can effectively overcome the shortcomings of mode mixing that sometimes exist in the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method. LSTM is an improved version of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) that introduces a “gate” mechanism, and can effectively filter out the critical previous information, making it suitable for the financial time series forecasting. The capability of VMD-LSTM in stock price index forecasting is verified comprehensively by comparing with some single models and the EMD-based and other VMD-based hybrid models. Evaluated by level and directional prediction criteria, as well as a newly introduced statistic called the complexity-invariant distance (CID), the VMD-LSTM model shows an outstanding performance in stock price index forecasting. The hybrid models perform significantly better than the single models, and the forecasting accuracy of the VMD-based models is generally higher than that of the EMD-based models.