James Madison University

Abstract The geologically oldest known crinoid pentacrinoid larva is reported from Verulam Formation (Katian) from the Lafarge Cannifton Agg Quarry in Cannifton, Ontario, Canada. The entire specimen (arms, aboral cup, and incomplete column) is ~4.2 mm high with the aboral cup only ~1.3 mm high. The specimen is comparable in size to the early pentacrinoid larva of the living crinoid Metacrinus rotundatus Carpenter, 1885. As known, the morphology of this pentacrinoid larva does not correspond in all details with any adult crinoid in the Cannifton area or from the nearby Brechin Lagerstätte fauna, suggesting that considerable morphological change occurred during ontogeny of this taxon.

Societal Impact Statement American ginseng is a shade‐obligate, North American medicinal plant that is widely traded and used internationally. To meet global demand, ginseng is cultivated in forest farms in the Appalachian region of the USA and field‐based artificial shade farms in two regions: Ontario, Canada, and Wisconsin, USA. We conducted social research leveraging in‐depth interviews with growers to inform wild population genetics and future crop development efforts by examining how ginseng genetic materials are sourced, selected, and distributed in forest‐based and artificial shade farming systems. We identified patterns in grower practice that inform global conservation efforts in ginseng and other medicinal plants. Summary Understanding the population genetics of threatened medicinal plant species is essential to building effective conservation management strategies that promote sustainable plant use for human health and wellbeing. Yet molecular approaches on their own do not incorporate human perspectives and behaviors, including trading planting stock and intensive cultivation, that may influence genetic population structure. Research continues to assess genetic and phenotypic variation in cultivated and wild ginseng plants; however, the practices associated with ginseng planting have mostly been overlooked. In this study, we incorporated the knowledge of ginseng growers by conducting key informant interviews with artificial shade and forest growers in the U.S.A. and Canada (N = 34) and analyzed these data using Grounded Theory methods. Results from these interviews highlight the importance of artificial shade farms in Wisconsin and Ontario as likely sources of genetic and phenotypic variation in forest‐cultivated and wild‐occurring ginseng populations. Plant selection and seed saving practices were mostly unconscious decisions, and evidence of deliberate selection of genetic materials for specific traits was largely absent. Growers reported that lack of access to local seed sources is an important driver of planting stock movement from artificial shade farms to forest farms that can be used to establish “wild” forest populations. Artificial shade farms were found to produce large seed surpluses, while forest farms reported difficulties obtaining planting stock, leading to heavy reliance on importing non‐local cultivated planting materials. These results highlight the importance of involving growers in future efforts involving planting stock conservation and seed banking for sustainable medicinal plant use.

Brewing beer offers a highly customizable and engaging platform for students to develop synthetic and analytical chemistry skills in the undergraduate teaching laboratory. This chapter describes the practical adaptations made to the beer-making process at James Madison University for our brewing-based General Chemistry II course. These changes allow beer production within the constraints of the standard 3-hour lab period. Several significant modifications were made to traditional homebrewing methods, equipment, and scale. Practical considerations, including safety protocols and institutional compliance, are addressed to support adoption across diverse academic settings. This work can serve as a roadmap for instructors seeking to incorporate brewing beer into their teaching labs, whether for analytical exploration or as a vehicle for student-driven, inquiry-based experimentation.

Abstract The X-ray source around supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei (AGN) has been dubbed the corona by analogy to the solar (and stellar) corona. Both stellar and AGN coronae are orders of magnitude hotter than their counterpart optical source; the stellar photosphere and accretion disk respectively. Both coronae vary on short time scales down to seconds. The coronal activity in the Sun is well imaged and its activity has been shown to be driven by magnetic energy converted into heat through the process of magnetic reconnection. While it has been theorized that AGN corona are also magnetically driven, the driving mechanism of AGN coronal activity has not been directly observed. A smoking gun of magnetic reconnection is when a coronal flare’s temporal evolution in hard and soft X-rays follows the Neupert Effect. These flares result in both a solar coronal mass ejection, and energetic particles streaming down along magnetic field lines to the photosphere. Here, we report the detection of the Neupert Effect in an AGN corona, providing the first direct evidence for magnetic reconnection in AGN. Our measurements indicate a magnetic field loop height of up to 30 gravitational radii, and a distance of about 400 gravitational radii between the corona and the UV emitting accretion disk. The present findings thus enable the application of solar coronal physics to the less accessible AGN corona.

The purpose of this study is to determine if speech-language pathologists' (SLP) ratings of palpated hyolaryngeal excursion (pHLE) during a clinical swallow evaluation (CSE) are predictive of spatial measures of hyolaryngeal excursion determined by instrumentation (iHLE). Adults between the ages of 18-99 were recruited with a physician referral to complete a CSE and videofluoroscopy swallow study. Four SLP investigators completed ratings of pHLE palpation during a CSE. Spatial measures of hyoid peak elevation were taken from videofluoroscopy swallow studies. Statistical analyses included multiple linear regression to determine the best-fitting model to predict iHLE from palpated ratings. Data from 77 volunteers (44 female, mean age 71.6) were used for statistical analyses. The linear regression model indicated three significant predictors of superior (upward) hyoid peak position, including palpation, bolus consistency, and the number of swallows. There were no significant predictors of anterior (forward) hyoid peak position from the tested factors. The emergence of these significant predictors suggests that palpation may provide insight into superior HLE movements during a CSE. Next steps will be to determine if palpation improves SLPs' diagnostic accuracy and clinical decision-making during swallow assessment without instrumentation.

Crystallographic structure identification is crucial for understanding material properties; however, current methodologies often depend on labor-intensive and time-consuming analyses of 2D X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. To address these limitations, this study employs synthetic 2D XRD patterns combined with deep learning (DL) techniques to enable automated and high-throughput classification of the seven crystal systems and 230 space groups. We introduce the novel Auto Diffraction Pipeline, designed to generate synthetic 2D XRD spot patterns from crystallographic information files under diverse conditions, including varying zone axes, atomic substitution, atomic depletion and mechanical loading. These conditions enhance the realism of synthetic data, mitigating the scarcity of experimental datasets and enabling the creation of large representative training sets. Convolutional neural networks were trained and validated on these synthetic datasets to classify crystallographic structures across multiple scenarios. Our results demonstrate that integrating synthetic 2D XRD patterns with DL facilitates rapid, accurate and automated crystallographic classification, promoting the wider adoption of data-driven approaches in materials science.

Context Hip pain is a concern in young adults, with previous hip injury recognized as a key contributing factor. However, little is known about how prior non-hip lower extremity injuries impact current hip pain. Objectives To determine (1) whether past foot/ankle and knee youth sports injuries are associated with current hip pain in young adults and (2) the role of foot/ankle, knee, and hip pain in contributing to poor patient-reported lower extremity function in young adults. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Electronic survey. Patients or Other Participants Four hundred twenty-four young adults with previous youth sports participation. Main Outcome Measure(s) Individuals self-reported prior youth sports foot/ankle, knee, and hip injury histories, current pain in these regions, and current function using the Lower Extremity Functional Scale. Ordinal logistic regression models assessed the association of prior foot/ankle and/or knee injuries with current hip pain. Secondary analyses evaluated the effect of (1) foot/ankle and hip injury history on current knee pain and (2) knee and hip injury history on current foot/ankle pain. Finally, we explored the relationship between current lower extremity region pain and function. Results A history of both foot/ankle and knee injuries (odds ratio [OR] = 4.91; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.80, 8.60) or foot/ankle injury alone (OR = 2.72, 95% CI = 1.68, 4.41) was associated with increased odds of current hip pain; a knee injury history alone was not (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 0.64, 2.15). Hip and foot/ankle injury histories were both associated with increased current knee pain. Greater current foot/ankle pain, but not knee or hip pain, was linked to worse current lower extremity function. Conclusions Prior lower extremity injuries, particularly involving the foot/ankle, increased the likelihood of current hip pain. Multi–region lower extremity injury histories appear to have a compounding effect on hip pain intensity.