St. Lawrence University

Self-determination theory posits 3 basic psychological needs: autonomy (feeling uncoerced in one's actions), competence (feeling capable), and relatedness (feeling connected to others). Optimal well-being results when these needs are satisfied, though this research has traditionally focused on individual well-being outcomes (e.g., E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan, 2000). Three studies examined the role of need fulfillment in relationship functioning and well-being. Study 1 found that fulfillment of each need individually predicted both individual and relationship well-being, with relatedness being the strongest unique predictor of relationship outcomes. Study 2 found that both partners' need fulfillment uniquely predicted one's own relationship functioning and well-being. Finally, in Study 3, the authors used a diary recording procedure and tested a model in which the association between need fulfillment and relationship quality was mediated by relationship motivation. Those who experienced greater need fulfillment enjoyed better postdisagreement relationship quality primarily because of their tendency to have more intrinsic or autonomous reasons for being in their relationship.

BACKGROUND: Olfactory dysfunction is an increasingly recognised condition, associated with reduced quality of life and major health outcomes such as neurodegeneration and death. However, translational research in this field is limited by heterogeneity in methodological approach, including definitions of impairment, improvement and appropriate assessment techniques. Accordingly, effective treatments for smell loss are limited. In an effort to encourage high quality and comparable work in this field, among others, we propose the following ideas and recommendations. Whilst the full set of recommendations are outlined in the main document, points include the following: - Patients with suspected olfactory loss should undergo a full examination of the head and neck, including rigid nasal endoscopy with small diameter endoscopes. - Subjective olfactory assessment should not be undertaken in isolation, given its poor reliability. - Psychophysical assessment tools used in clinical and research settings should include reliable and validated tests of odour threshold, and/or one of odour identification or discrimination. - Comprehensive chemosensory assessment should include gustatory screening. - Smell training can be helpful in patients with olfactory loss of several aetiologies. CONCLUSIONS: We hope the current manuscript will encourage clinicians and researchers to adopt a common language, and in so doing, increase the methodological quality, consistency and generalisability of work in this field.

Abstract Systematic assessments of species extinction risk at regular intervals are necessary for informing conservation action 1,2 . Ongoing developments in taxonomy, threatening processes and research further underscore the need for reassessment 3,4 . Here we report the findings of the second Global Amphibian Assessment, evaluating 8,011 species for the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. We find that amphibians are the most threatened vertebrate class (40.7% of species are globally threatened). The updated Red List Index shows that the status of amphibians is deteriorating globally, particularly for salamanders and in the Neotropics. Disease and habitat loss drove 91% of status deteriorations between 1980 and 2004. Ongoing and projected climate change effects are now of increasing concern, driving 39% of status deteriorations since 2004, followed by habitat loss (37%). Although signs of species recoveries incentivize immediate conservation action, scaled-up investment is urgently needed to reverse the current trends.

We present a current catalog of 21 cm H I line sources extracted from the Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFALFA) survey over ~2800 deg^2 of sky: the α.40 catalog. Covering 40% of the final survey area, the α.40 catalog contains 15,855 sources in the regions 07^h30^m < R.A. < 16^h30^m, +04° < decl. <+16°, and +24° < decl. <+28° and 22^h < R.A. < 03^h, +14° < decl. <+16°, and +24° < decl. < + 32°. Of those, 15,041 are certainly extragalactic, yielding a source density of 5.3 galaxies per deg^2, a factor of 29 improvement over the catalog extracted from the H I Parkes All-Sky Survey. In addition to the source centroid positions, H I line flux densities, recessional velocities, and line widths, the catalog includes the coordinates of the most probable optical counterpart of each H I line detection, and a separate compilation provides a cross-match to identifications given in the photometric and spectroscopic catalogs associated with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7. Fewer than 2% of the extragalactic H I line sources cannot be identified with a feasible optical counterpart; some of those may be rare OH megamasers at 0.16 < z < 0.25. A detailed analysis is presented of the completeness, width-dependent sensitivity function and bias inherent of the α.40 catalog. The impact of survey selection, distance errors, current volume coverage, and local large-scale structure on the derivation of the H I mass function is assessed. While α.40 does not yet provide a completely representative sampling of cosmological volume, derivations of the H I mass function using future data releases from ALFALFA will further improve both statistical and systematic uncertainties.

• Paleobotanists have long used models based on leaf size and shape to reconstruct paleoclimate. However, most models incorporate a single variable or use traits that are not physiologically or functionally linked to climate, limiting their predictive power. Further, they often underestimate paleotemperature relative to other proxies. • Here we quantify leaf-climate correlations from 92 globally distributed, climatically diverse sites, and explore potential confounding factors. Multiple linear regression models for mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) are developed and applied to nine well-studied fossil floras. • We find that leaves in cold climates typically have larger, more numerous teeth, and are more highly dissected. Leaf habit (deciduous vs evergreen), local water availability, and phylogenetic history all affect these relationships. Leaves in wet climates are larger and have fewer, smaller teeth. Our multivariate MAT and MAP models offer moderate improvements in precision over univariate approaches (± 4.0 vs 4.8°C for MAT) and strong improvements in accuracy. For example, our provisional MAT estimates for most North American fossil floras are considerably warmer and in better agreement with independent paleoclimate evidence. • Our study demonstrates that the inclusion of additional leaf traits that are functionally linked to climate improves paleoclimate reconstructions. This work also illustrates the need for better understanding of the impact of phylogeny and leaf habit on leaf-climate relationships.

We are obtaining spectra, spectral types and basic physical parameters for the nearly 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 in the Hipparcos catalog within 40pc of the Sun. Here we report on results for 1676 stars in the southern hemisphere observed at Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory and Steward Observatory. These results include new, precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physical parameters (including the effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity, [M/H]) and measures of the chromospheric activity of our program stars. We include notes on astrophysically interesting stars in this sample, the metallicity distribution of the solar neighborhood and a table of solar analogues. We also demonstrate that the bimodal nature of the distribution of the chromospheric activity parameter log R'HK depends strongly on the metallicity, and we explore the nature of the ``low-metallicity'' chromospherically active K-type dwarfs.

We present the results of low dispersion optical spectroscopy of 186 H II regions spanning a range of radius in 13 spiral galaxies. Abundances for several elements (oxygen, nitrogen, neon, sulfur, and argon) were determined for 185 of the H II regions. As expected, low metallicities were found for the outlying H II regions of these spiral galaxies. Radial abundance gradients were derived for the 11 primary galaxies; similar to results for other spiral galaxies, the derived abundance gradients are typically -0.04 to -0.07 dex/kpc.

Abstract We present the catalog of ∼31,500 extragalactic H i line sources detected by the completed Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) survey out to z < 0.06, including both high signal-to-noise ratio (>6.5) detections and ones of lower quality that coincide in both position and recessional velocity with galaxies of known redshift. We review the observing technique, data reduction pipeline, and catalog construction process, focusing on details of particular relevance to understanding the catalog’s compiled parameters. We further describe and make available the digital H i line spectra associated with the cataloged sources. In addition to the extragalactic H i line detections, we report nine confirmed OH megamasers (OHMs) and 10 OHM candidates at 0.16 < z < 0.22 whose OH line signals are redshifted into the ALFALFA frequency band. Because of complexities in data collection and processing associated with the use of a feed-horn array on a complex single-dish antenna in the terrestrial radio frequency interference environment, we also present a list of suggestions and caveats for consideration by users of the ALFALFA extragalactic catalog for future scientific investigations.

I report an episode of anuran mortality and decline in the Reserva Forestal Fortuna, Chiriquí, Panama. The symptoms of decline at this site include population reductions, the presence of dead or dying adults, and tadpole abnormalities. Streamside anurans were abundant and diverse in 1993–1995, were restricted to a few streams in December 1996–January 1997, and then became rare throughout the reserve in July–August 1997. Between December 1996 and January 1997, I found 54 dead or dying frogs belonging to 10 species, and 12% of tadpoles had abnormalities of the oral disc. In July–August 1997 I monitored nine streams 37 times and captured only six individuals, whereas 13 terrestrial surveys along five trails resulted in 18 captured individuals. No dead or dying animals were found during those two months, but 11% of tadpoles had mouthpart abnormalities. Necropsies revealed that 18 of 18 dead anurans had a fungal infection of the skin; because this fungus was the only infection shared among all dead frogs, I suggest that it killed them and contributed to the decline of these populations. The presence of mouthpart abnormalities during a period of adult mortality suggests that this symptom may also be linked to the fungus infection. Clinical signs of decline in the anurans of Fortuna are similar to those found in the anurans of Monteverde and Las Tablas, Costa Rica, and I hypothesize that this pathogen was involved in the declines at all three sites.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced all face-to-face college courses to transition to remote instruction. This article explores instructional techniques used in the transition, student perceptions of effectiveness/enjoyment/accessibility of those techniques, barriers that students faced due to the transition, and race/class/gender inequality in experiencing those barriers. We used surveys in introductory courses by two instructors (the authors) to compare students' reactions to our transitions and the transitions in their other courses. We found that which instructional technique instructors use is less important than how well they implement it for student learning. Although there is a tradeoff between enjoyment and accessibility, instructors can use techniques to increase accessibility of interactive formats. Internet and technology barriers were extremely common, even for students who did not anticipate problems. Most students experienced barriers to their learning due to the pandemic, including distractions, increased anxiety, and feeling less motivated, especially for nonwhite, female, and first-generation college students.

The agricultural expansion and intensification required to meet growing food and agri-based product demand present important challenges to future levels and management of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Influential actors such as corporations, governments, and multilateral organizations have made commitments to meeting future agricultural demand sustainably and preserving critical ecosystems. Current approaches to predicting the impacts of agricultural expansion involve calculation of total land conversion and assessment of the impacts on biodiversity or ecosystem services on a per-area basis, generally assuming a linear relationship between impact and land area. However, the impacts of continuing land development are often not linear and can vary considerably with spatial configuration. We demonstrate what could be gained by spatially explicit analysis of agricultural expansion at a large scale compared with the simple measure of total area converted, with a focus on the impacts on biodiversity and carbon storage. Using simple modeling approaches for two regions of Brazil, we find that for the same amount of land conversion, the declines in biodiversity and carbon storage can vary two- to fourfold depending on the spatial pattern of conversion. Impacts increase most rapidly in the earliest stages of agricultural expansion and are more pronounced in scenarios where conversion occurs in forest interiors compared with expansion into forests from their edges. This study reveals the importance of spatially explicit information in the assessment of land-use change impacts and for future land management and conservation.

The striatum and hippocampus are conventionally viewed as complementary learning and memory systems, with the hippocampus specialized for fact-based episodic memory and the striatum for procedural learning and memory. Here we directly tested whether these two systems exhibit independent or coordinated activity patterns during procedural learning. We trained rats on a conditional T-maze task requiring navigational and cue-based associative learning. We recorded local field potential (LFP) activity with tetrodes chronically implanted in the caudoputamen and the CA1 field of the dorsal hippocampus during 6-25 days of training. We show that simultaneously recorded striatal and hippocampal theta rhythms are modulated differently as the rats learned to perform the T-maze task but nevertheless become highly coherent during the choice period of the maze runs in rats that successfully learned the task. Moreover, in the rats that acquired the task, the phase of the striatal-hippocampal theta coherence was modified toward a consistent antiphase relationship, and these changes occurred in proportion to the levels of learning achieved. We suggest that rhythmic oscillations, including theta-band activity, could influence not only neural processing in cortico-basal ganglia circuits but also dynamic interactions between basal ganglia-based and hippocampus-based forebrain circuits during the acquisition and performance of learned behaviors. Experience-dependent changes in coordination of oscillatory activity across brain structures thus may parallel the well known plasticity of spike activity that occurs as a function of experience.

Songlin Chen, Manfred Schartl, Qingyin Wang, Deborah M. Power and colleagues analyze the genome of the Japanese flounder and its transcriptome dynamics during metamorphosis. They report a role for thyroid hormone and retinoic acid signaling, as well as phototransduction pathways, in the regulation of craniofacial asymmetry. Flatfish have the most extreme asymmetric body morphology of vertebrates. During metamorphosis, one eye migrates to the contralateral side of the skull, and this migration is accompanied by extensive craniofacial transformations and simultaneous development of lopsided body pigmentation1,2,3,4,5. The evolution of this developmental and physiological innovation remains enigmatic. Comparative genomics of two flatfish and transcriptomic analyses during metamorphosis point to a role for thyroid hormone and retinoic acid signaling, as well as phototransduction pathways. We demonstrate that retinoic acid is critical in establishing asymmetric pigmentation and, via cross-talk with thyroid hormones, in modulating eye migration. The unexpected expression of the visual opsins from the phototransduction pathway in the skin translates illumination differences and generates retinoic acid gradients that underlie the generation of asymmetry. Identifying the genetic underpinning of this unique developmental process answers long-standing questions about the evolutionary origin of asymmetry, but it also provides insight into the mechanisms that control body shape in vertebrates.

Carbon stock estimates based on land cover type are critical for informing climate change assessment and landscape management, but field and theoretical evidence indicates that forest fragmentation reduces the amount of carbon stored at forest edges. Here, using remotely sensed pantropical biomass and land cover data sets, we estimate that biomass within the first 500 m of the forest edge is on average 25% lower than in forest interiors and that reductions of 10% extend to 1.5 km from the forest edge. These findings suggest that IPCC Tier 1 methods overestimate carbon stocks in tropical forests by nearly 10%. Proper accounting for degradation at forest edges will inform better landscape and forest management and policies, as well as the assessment of carbon stocks at landscape and national levels.

Background: Olfactory dysfunction is an increasingly recognised condition, associated with reduced quality of life and major health outcomes such as neurodegeneration and death. However, translational research in this field is limited by heterogeneity in methodological approach, including definitions of impairment, improvement and appropriate assessment techniques. Accordingly, effective treatments for smell loss are limited. In an effort to encourage high quality and comparable work in this field, among others, we propose the following ideas and recommendations. Whilst the full set of recommendations are outlined in the main document, points include the following:

In the years since the first reports of mass rapes in the Yugoslavian wars of secession and the genocidal massacres in Rwanda, feminist activists and scholars, human rights organizations, journalists, and social scientists have dedicated unprecedented efforts to document, explain, and seek solutions for the phenomenon of wartime rape. While contributors to this literature agree on much, there is no consensus on causal factors. This paper provides a brief overview of the literature on wartime rape in historical and ethnographical societies and a critical analysis of the four leading explanations for its root causes: the feminist theory, the cultural pathology theory, the strategic rape theory, and the biosocial theory. The paper concludes that the biosocial theory is the only one capable of bringing all the phenomena associated with wartime rape into a single explanatory context.

Bronchiectasis is an incurable pulmonary disorder that is characterized pathologically by permanent bronchial dilatation and severe bronchial inflammation and clinically by chronic productive cough and recurrent infectious exacerbations; bronchiectasis often occurs in the presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is widely believed that increasing use of high-resolution computed tomography has led to a marked rise in the number of persons with diagnosed bronchiectasis in current US clinical practice; up-to-date evidence, however, is lacking. Using a retrospective cohort design and health-care claims data (2009-2013), we estimated the prevalence of bronchiectasis (noncystic fibrosis)-based on narrow case-finding criteria-to be 139 cases per 100,000 persons, to be higher among women versus men (180 vs. 95 per 100 K), and to increase substantially with age (from 7 per 100 K to 812 per 100 K aged 18-34 years and ≥75 years, respectively); annual incidence was estimated to be 29 cases per 100,000 persons. Disease prevalence based on broad case-finding criteria was estimated to be 213 cases per 100,000 persons. The findings of this study suggest that between 340,000 and 522,000 adults were receiving treatment for bronchiectasis and that 70,000 adults were newly diagnosed with bronchiectasis, in 2013 US clinical practice. The findings of this study also suggest that bronchiectasis is much more common than previously reported (annual growth rate since 2001, 8%), presumably due-at least in part-to recent advances in, and increased use of, radiologic techniques. Additional research is needed to validate the findings of this study, to identify the reasons for increased prevalence, and to promote education about bronchiectasis nationally.

Belief in electoral fraud has received heightened attention due to elite rhetoric and controversial voter identification (ID) laws. Using a two-wave national survey administered before and after the 2012 election, we examine the individual-level correlates of belief in a range of election-related conspiracy theories. Our data show that partisanship affects the timing and content of belief in election-related conspiracy theories, but a general disposition toward conspiratorial thinking strongly influences those beliefs. Support for voter ID laws, in contrast, appears to be driven largely by party identification through elite-mass linkages. Our analysis suggests that belief in election fraud is a common and predictable consequence of both underlying conspiratorial thinking and motivated partisan reasoning.

Raman spectra of materials subject to strong electric field gradients, such as those present near a metal surface, can show significantly altered selection rules. We describe a new mechanism by which the field gradients can produce Raman-like lines. We develop a theoretical model for this "gradient-field Raman" effect, discuss selection rules, and compare to other mechanisms that produce Raman-like lines in the presence of strong field gradients. The mechanism can explain the origin and intensity of some Raman modes observed in SERS and through a near-field optical microscope (NSOM-Raman).

Within the creativity domain, inspiration is a motivational state posited to energize the actualization of creative ideas. The authors examined the construct validity, predictive utility, and function of inspiration in the writing process. Study 1, a cross-lagged panel study, showed that getting creative ideas and being inspired are distinct and that the former precedes the latter. In Study 2, inspiration, at the between-person level, predicted the creativity of scientific writing, whereas effort predicted technical merit. Within persons, peaks in inspiration predicted peaks in creativity and troughs in technical merit. In Study 3, inspiration predicted the creativity of poetry. Consistent with its posited transmission function, inspiration mediated between creativity of the idea and creativity of the product, whereas effort, positive affect, and awe did not. Study 4 extended the Study 3 findings to fiction writing. Openness to aesthetics and positive affect predicted creativity of the idea, whereas approach temperament moderated the relation between creativity of the idea and inspiration. Inspiration predicted efficiency, productivity, and use of shorter words, indicating that inspiration not only transmits creativity but does so economically.