Correction: Hyporheic hydraulic geometry: Conceptualizing relationships among hyporheic exchange, storage, and water age.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0262080.].

Persuasion with Precision: Using Natural Language Processing to Improve Instrument Fidelity for Risk Communication Experimental Treatments.

Instrument fidelity in message testing research hinges upon how precisely messages operationalize treatment conditions. However, numerous message-testing studies have unmitigated threats to validity and reliability because no established procedures exist to guide construction of message treatments. Their construction typically occurs in a black box, resulting in suspect inferential conclusions about treatment effects. Because a mixed methods approach is needed to enhance instrument fidelity in message testing research, this article contributes to the field of mixed methods research by presenting an integrated multistage procedure for constructing precise message treatments using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. This work harnesses the power of integration through crossover analysis to improve instrument fidelity in message testing research through the use of natural language processing.

Hyporheic hydraulic geometry: Conceptualizing relationships among hyporheic exchange, storage, and water age.

Hyporheic exchange is now widely acknowledged as a key driver of ecosystem processes in many streams. Yet stream ecologists have been slow to adopt nuanced hydrologic frameworks developed and applied by engineers and hydrologists to describe the relationship between water storage, water age, and water balance in finite hydrosystems such as hyporheic zones. Here, in the context of hyporheic hydrology, we summarize a well-established mathematical framework useful for describing hyporheic hydrology, while also applying the framework heuristically to visualize the relationships between water age, rates of hyporheic exchange, and water volume within hyporheic zones. Building on this heuristic application, we discuss how improved accuracy in the conceptualization of hyporheic exchange can yield a deeper understanding of the role of the hyporheic zone in stream ecosystems. Although the equations presented here have been well-described for decades, our aim is to make the mathematical basis as accessible as possible and to encourage broader understanding among aquatic ecologists of the implications of tailed age distributions commonly observed in water discharged from and stored within hyporheic zones. Our quantitative description of "hyporheic hydraulic geometry," associated visualizations, and discussion offer a nuanced and realistic understanding of hyporheic hydrology to aid in considering hyporheic exchange in the context of river and stream ecosystem science and management.

Characters matter: How narratives shape affective responses to risk communication.

INTRODUCTION: Whereas scientists depend on the language of probability to relay information about hazards, risk communication may be more effective when embedding scientific information in narratives. The persuasive power of narratives is theorized to reside, in part, in narrative transportation. PURPOSE: This study seeks to advance the science of stories in risk communication by measuring real-time affective responses as a proxy indicator for narrative transportation during science messages that present scientific information in the context of narrative. METHODS: This study employed a within-subjects design in which participants (n = 90) were exposed to eight science messages regarding flood risk. Conventional science messages using probability and certainty language represented two conditions. The remaining six conditions were narrative science messages that embedded the two conventional science messages within three story forms that manipulated the narrative mechanism of character selection. Informed by the Narrative Policy Framework, the characters portrayed in the narrative science messages were hero, victim, and victim-to-hero. Natural language processing techniques were applied to identify and rank hero and victim vocabularies from 45 resident interviews conducted in the study area; the resulting classified vocabulary was used to build each of the three story types. Affective response data were collected over 12 group sessions across three flood-prone communities in Montana. Dial response technology was used to capture continuous, second-by-second recording of participants' affective responses while listening to each of the eight science messages. Message order was randomized across sessions. ANOVA and three linear mixed-effects models were estimated to test our predictions. RESULTS: First, both probabilistic and certainty science language evoked negative affective responses with no statistical differences between them. Second, narrative science messages were associated with greater variance in affective responses than conventional science messages. Third, when characters are in action, variation in the narrative mechanism of character selection leads to significantly different affective responses. Hero and victim-to-hero characters elicit positive affective responses, while victim characters produce a slightly negative response. CONCLUSIONS: In risk communication, characters matter in audience experience of narrative transportation as measured by affective responses.

Landscape assessment of side channel plugs and associated cumulative side channel attrition across a large river floodplain.

Determining the influences of anthropogenic perturbations on side channel dynamics in large rivers is important from both assessment and monitoring perspectives because side channels provide critical habitat to numerous aquatic species. Side channel extents are decreasing in large rivers worldwide. Although riprap and other linear structures have been shown to reduce side channel extents in large rivers, we hypothesized that small "anthropogenic plugs" (flow obstructions such as dikes or berms) across side channels modify whole-river geomorphology via accelerating side channel senescence. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a geospatial assessment, comparing digitized side channel areas from aerial photographs taken during the 1950s and 2001 along 512 km of the Yellowstone River floodplain. We identified longitudinal patterns of side channel recruitment (created/enlarged side channels) and side channel attrition (destroyed/senesced side channels) across n = 17 river sections within which channels were actively migrating. We related areal measures of recruitment and attrition to the density of anthropogenic side channel plugs across river sections. Consistent with our hypothesis, a positive spatial relationship existed between the density of anthropogenic plugs and side channel attrition, but no relationship existed between plug density and side channel recruitment. Our work highlights important linkages among side channel plugs and the persistence and restoration of side channels across floodplain landscapes. Specifically, management of small plugs represents a low-cost, high-benefit restoration opportunity to facilitate scouring flows in side channels to enable the persistence of these habitats over time.