Gold mask burials constitute a remarkable cultural phenomenon linking diverse landscapes between the northern Aegean and the central Balkans. Their primary manifestation includes full-face masks and gold foils used to cover the body, accompanied by an ostentatious, largely standardized set of grave goods dating to the second half of the sixth century bce. The roots of this practice lie in earlier centuries, with modest gold sheets placed over the mouth. During the Late Archaic period, full masks and mouthpieces appeared in parallel, reflecting shared ritual traditions. This study traces the practice beyond the historical territory of the Macedonian kingdom, arguing against direct links to Macedonian ethnicity. By examining shared ceramic technology and settlement patterns, the paper suggests that the spread of this funerary custom was driven by medium- to large-scale mobility. This model favours fluid cultural interactions over the ‘heroic’ narratives of large-scale invasions or political expansions previously presumed to have occurred across these culturally diverse landscapes.

This paper studies a class of degenerate parabolic partial differential equation models that describe the dynamics of single-species populations with cognitive functions in toxic environments. The core innovation lies in introducing cognitive functions to simulate the ability of species to perceive toxins and adaptively adjust their behaviours, which in turn affects population density. This mechanism is characterized by a nonlinear degenerate Pratial Differential Equation. The degradation of the model is mainly manifested in the diffusion coefficient and response term approaching zero when the population density is zero or the cognitive state reaches the boundary. For this model, we have achieved the following theoretical breakthroughs: First, by using regularization techniques, we constructed a non-degenerate approximate system. Combining prior energy estimates with the fixed point theorem, we proved the existence of local classical solutions for this regularized system; subsequently, we constructed an appropriate Lyapunov function. Based on strict energy dissipation analysis and uniform prior estimates, we proved that under conditions such as bounded toxins and regular initial values, the classical solutions of the regularized system exist globally and remain bounded on the interval $[0, \infty )$ ultimately, based on this, through compactness theory and limit processes, the existence of the global weak solution for the original degenerate system is further derived. Numerical simulations verify the rationality of the theoretical results and visually demonstrate the dynamic regulatory effect of cognitive function on population tolerance.

Election pledges are fundamental for representative democracy, linking parties’ campaigns before elections with their behavior afterwards. Yet little is known about voters’ awareness of these pledges before elections and how this affects post-election awareness of pledge fulfillment. Triangulating between a rich set of panel and pooled cross-sectional survey data surrounding the 2019 Danish national election (N = 10,322), we show that voters who were able to recognize and recall pledges before elections were more likely to be aware of their fulfillment status after the election. Furthermore, pre-election awareness mostly benefited people with less political interest, enabling these relatively disinterested voters to nevertheless hold parties accountable. These findings have important implications for our understanding of voters’ ability to make informed choices when they delegate power to parties at elections and hold them accountable afterwards.

Archaeology is in the midst of a technological revolution, particularly for data collection, first championed by light detection and ranging (lidar) in the early 2000s and now with widespread applications of unmanned aerial systems (UAS)-deployed remote sensing. While the importance of remote sensing for data collection and heritage conservation is known, less work has acknowledged the implications of remote sensing for field safety, particularly for disabled researchers. UAS offer a unique opportunity to explore circumstances that may affect mobility in the field and how advances in archaeological science can transform fieldwork by improving accessibility for disabled archaeologists. I argue that UAS can—and should—be improved to promote accessibility in archaeological fieldwork, due to their promotion of field safety, increased planning of daily tasks, and broader applications to community-engaged research. These interventions should be applied to the larger field of archaeology to improve labor management for researchers in all sectors of practice.

Reconstructions of Moche ritual sacrifice have relied heavily on iconographic depictions of elaborate rituals conducted on mountains and sacrifices at adobe temples. Scholars have categorized mountain scenes, proposed that Huaca de la Luna symbolized sacred mountains, and argued that one of the main mountain scenes entails the liberation of a figure known as Dios A. However, the large corpus of mountain iconography remains underanalyzed, and few existing publications incorporate data from mountainside sites. In this article, I propose a more specific Mountainside Sacrifice and Cave Opening mythic narrative encoded in these scenes, comparable to the Presentation Theme / Sacrifice Ceremony. I argue that future surveys and excavations must include thorough investigations of north coast mountains of Peru.

This paper examines the educational experience in Sudan from 2023 until the present. In 2023, with the outbreak of the civil war, the Sudanese universities completely ceased operations. Since late 2025, there has been highly limited in-person teaching when safe in some universities, but this is not widespread or comprehensive due to the destruction of infrastructure. Under these circumstances, some professors and students resorted to developing alternative solutions, the most prominent of which was the use of WhatsApp as an educational platform for communication, lectures, discussions, and exams. The research presents my experience as a lecturer in archaeology at the University of Khartoum, where lectures were prepared in small PDF files, audio recordings of the explanations were sent, and then discussed within WhatsApp groups. The university also organized exams through multiple centers to overcome transportation difficulties and later launched an official electronic platform for distance learning, reflecting a significant digital transformation despite the war. The research concludes that this experience is unique globally and confirms the importance of innovation and flexibility in continuing the educational process during crises. WhatsApp is no longer just a means of social communication or family chatting. In Sudan, it has become an effective educational tool that has proven its worth across multiple universities. In the absence of official online platforms and the difficulty of accessing high-speed internet, WhatsApp provided a reliable alternative, especially since it requires little data and allows for the direct and rapid sending of audio, text, and video files.

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) contains bioactive compounds such as polyphenols and saponins, which have been shown to influence cognition, mood, sleep, stress and related biomarkers. However, the evidence from human studies has not been systematically synthesised. To address this, we conducted a systematic review evaluating the effects of asparagus-based products on cognitive, affective, sleep outcomes and related biomarkers in adults. A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Google Scholar and Amino Up Ltd’s website (up to April 2025) identified studies assessing asparagus supplementation in adults, following PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42025636834). Human studies that employed randomised controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs and assessed the effects of orally administered asparagus-based products on cognition, mood, sleep or relevant biomarkers were included. Eighteen studies (thirteen randomised controlled trials and three pre-post-studies; 503 participants) were included. Cognitive improvements were observed in reaction time, accuracy and mental fatigue, while mood and stress-related outcomes showed reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms. Sleep outcomes consistently demonstrated improvements in sleep quality and duration, while biomarker data showed effects on cortisol levels. Asparagus supplementation may offer modest benefits for cognition, mood and stress-related physiology, with particularly consistent effects on sleep quality. However, the magnitude of benefits varies by population, dose and duration, and the heterogeneity of interventions, small sample sizes and limited studies may constrain the generalisability of findings. Well-powered, long-term clinical trials are needed to determine optimal dosage, clarify mechanisms and assess efficacy across diverse populations.

Women with diabetes frequently experience ovarian dysfunction, which is a significant indication that diabetes adversely affects their reproductive health. This study investigates the efficacy of combined treatment with Pioglitazone and Cynara scolymus extract in improving ovarian function in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. A total of 35 female rats were divided into five groups: (1) Control (saline), (2) DM (diabetic control), (3) DM + Piog (30 mg/kg Pioglitazone), (4) DM + Cynara (400 mg/kg C. scolymus extract), and (5) DM + Piog + Cynara (combined treatment), and were administered orally for 30 consecutive days. Following treatment, histopathological and stereological analyses were performed to evaluate follicular development, corpus luteum volume, and oxidative stress markers. The results indicated that the combined treatment (DM + Piog + Cynara) led to significant improvements, including increased numbers of preantral, antral, and Graafian follicles, alongside an enhanced corpus luteum volume. Additionally, there was a notable reduction in atretic follicles and fasting blood glucose levels compared to the diabetic group. Diabetes resulted in elevated malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and decreased antioxidant enzyme activities. However, the combination therapy effectively modulated apoptotic pathways, enhancing Bcl-2 expression while reducing Caspase-9 activity. This study demonstrates that the combined therapy of C. scolymus extract and Pioglitazone mitigates diabetic-induced ovarian dysfunction by reducing oxidative stress, normalizing hormonal levels, and promoting healthy folliculogenesis. These findings suggest that this approach may serve as a promising complementary treatment for diabetes-related reproductive issues, potentially improving reproductive health.

Compared with superhydrophobic coatings, superamphiphobic coatings offer broader application potential in various fields. However, their practical applications are often hindered by insufficient repellency towards low-surface-tension, high-viscosity and complex multicomponent liquids, as well as by their stability. Herein, a palygorskite-based stable superamphiphobic coating with a simple fabrication process and low cost is reported. The coating was fabricated through sequential spray deposition of a fluorosilicone resin (FSR) bonding layer and a superamphiphobic functional layer composed of fluorinated palygorskite (F-PAL), fluorinated carbon black (F-CB) and FSR. In this coating, F-PAL nanorods serve as the building blocks for constructing the primary nanostructure, while F-CB nanoparticles occupy the interstitial spaces between the PAL nanorods, forming the secondary nanostructure. Together, these components generate a multiscale hierarchical micro-/nanostructure that is critical for achieving superamphiphobicity. By systematically optimizing the mass ratio of F-CB to F-PAL and the FSR content, a low-surface-energy multiscale hierarchical micro-/nanostructure was successfully established, imparting the coating with excellent superamphiphobicity towards water, hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene/dioctyl sebacate mixtures (HTPB-H) and their aluminium powder-containing suspensions (HTPB-H/Al). The coating exhibits outstanding mechanical, chemical and thermal stability. Furthermore, the coating demonstrates remarkable anti-adhesion performance against both HTPB-H and HTPB-H/Al, together with superior passive anti-icing performance, as evidenced by a significantly prolonged freezing delay time (1291 s, ∼30-fold increase) and a substantially reduced ice adhesion strength (from 224.3 to 65.8 kPa). Moreover, efficient photothermal de-icing performance was achieved under low-temperature, high-humidity and weak-light conditions. These results demonstrate that the proposed superamphiphobic coating holds significant promise for practical applications in anti-adhesion and anti-icing under harsh conditions.

This article examines the Rio-based nonpartisan organization, the Marielle Franco Institute’s digital strategies to appeal to Afro-Brazilian voters. The literature reveals that most Afro-Brazilian voters do not vote along racial lines. However, scholarship also reveals that politicians make racial appeals to Afro-Brazilian voters. I argue that the MFI uses digital media to mobilize Afro-Brazilian voters to support progressive political candidates. I find that it seeks to mobilize them in four ways. The first is the Marielle Franco Agenda, an interactive platform that features progressive political candidates with similar agenda issues as Franco. Second, they highlight political candidates that are practitioners of African-derived religions. The third is that it promotes coalition politics through its collaboration with another nonpartisan organization to promote progressive candidates, and lastly, the MFI highlights candidates with a pro-Black woman aesthetic that challenges the notion that political spaces are nonblack spaces.

Parliaments are equipped with accountability mechanisms to uncover and sanction executive misconduct, yet the variation in their use across countries and over time remains poorly understood. This article links the frequency with which various constellations of MPs initiate ad hoc parliamentary investigative committees (ICs) to the institutionalization of party systems. It argues that the closure of the party system in the governmental arena, and particularly the degree of alternation in government, fosters the use of ICs due to the enhanced clarity of responsibility and competitive pressures. This argument is tested using a novel dataset of IC proposals in 97 cabinets across 10 countries of Central and Eastern Europe from the early 2000s to 2024. The findings indicate that under closed party systems, these accountability mechanisms are initiated more frequently both by opposition parties and a portion of coalition parties without the support of the remaining coalition partners. The article adds to the comparative understanding of parliamentary accountability as exercised by both opposition and government parties.

In this paper, we formulate a rational analog of the fall Delta theorem and the Delta square conjecture. We find a new dinv statistic on fall-decorated paths on a $(m+k) \times (n+k)$ rectangle that simultaneously extends the previously known dinv statistics on decorated square objects and nondecorated rectangular objects. We prove a symmetric function formula for the $q,t$-generating function of fall-decorated rectangular Dyck paths as a skewing operator applied to $e_{m,n+km}$ and, conditionally on the rectangular paths conjecture, an analog formula for fall-decorated rectangular paths.

This paper examines the politics of leveling-down policy in education through the case study of the Israeli reforms in the 1960s, which sought to reduce gaps not only by strengthening disadvantaged students but also by deliberately limiting the avenues available for socially and economically advantaged students to ensure their superiority. This analysis locates the theoretical concept of leveling down within the broader historical context of postwar welfare state construction in Israel and Europe, specifically the expansion of the universal right to education. In so doing, it demonstrates how historical analysis can enrich the theoretical understanding of important political concepts, in this case elaborating on existing discourse previously largely confined to the fields of philosophy, law and sociology. Thus, the article seeks to contribute to the study of the history of education and to contemporary discussions on issues of equality and gaps in the education system.

This study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to reducing free sugar intakes while participants were in the process of attempting to do this. Sixty-two adults with free sugar intakes >5% total energy intake; participants in a randomised controlled trial examining the effects of three different dietary recommendations versus control for reducing free sugar intakes were interviewed at either 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 weeks after receiving their recommendation. Data were analysed using thematic analysis and framework analysis based on recommendation received, time for change, and success in reducing free sugar intakes at 12 weeks. Thematic analysis revealed seven interactive themes leading to dietary change: ‘Is it possible?’; ‘Power of knowledge’; ‘Personal balance and empowerment’; ‘Habitual approach’; ‘Realities of life’; ‘Extensive awareness and viewpoint’; and ‘Proof and impact’. Framework analysis revealed greater knowledge, including knowledge related to practical solutions, in intervention groups compared to control; greater intentions and expectations at the start of the process, followed by increasing or decreasing engagement and satisfaction over time, with noticeable physical and subjective proof occurring from 4 weeks; and active engagement, with growing confidence and motivation in those who ended the trial having reduced their free sugar intakes compared to more passive attitudes in those less successful. Our findings demonstrate clear variation in barriers and facilitators to reducing free sugar intakes throughout the process, dependent also on recommendation received and individual orientation. Suggestions for improving free sugar intake reduction can be offered based on these differences.