This paper focuses on Early Roman thin-walled (ThW) pottery from the agora and Fabrika Hill in Nea Paphos, Cyprus. The material was examined macroscopically, and a selection of samples was subjected to elemental analysis (WD-XRF) and thin-section petrography to trace their provenance. The results revealed the presence of local production as well as off-island imports. They also show the low consumption of ThW pottery at the site as well as the dominance of the imports from Asia Minor over local production. These support the interpretation that external cultural influence, although present, had little effect on the islanders, who apparently were conservative in their choice of vessels and practices. The paper thus aims to contribute to a broader scholarly debate on the influence of Roman traditions on local productions and on processes of globalisation in antiquity. Furthermore, it discusses the phenomenon of the production of ThW vessels in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.

It is widely known that the short chain fatty acid butyrate, generated mainly through fermentation of dietary fibre by anaerobic bacteria, has beneficial effects on health. Less widely known is that butyrate, at the concentration (c20mM) typically found in the healthy colonic lumen, is toxic to colon epithelial cells. It is probably the presence of the continuous adherent mucus layer in the healthy colon that ensures that butyrate concentrations in contact with the epithelium fall below the levels (c>3mM) that are consistently toxic in in vitro or ex vivo studies. In active ulcerative colitis the adherent mucus layer is commonly weakened or absent. In this situation it is likely that the luminal butyrate concentration will be toxic to the epithelium. It follows that butyrate at concentrations typically present in the colon lumen is probably beneficial when colitis is in remission but harmful when colitis has relapsed. This may explain the largely negative results of butyrate therapy in ulcerative colitis and could also account for the recently reported benefit from total enteral nutrition. It also suggests that butyrate should be regarded as a target for therapy in active ulcerative colitis rather than a solution.

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a vital crop with production demand increasing due to population growth. However, bread wheat is facing challenges, including the emergence of pests and diseases, reduced genetic diversity and climate change. To meet food security, pre-breeding can help to develop varieties by incorporating desirable traits from wild relatives and landraces. Although pre-breeding is crucial, it does not often take full advantage of recent genotyping technologies. The DArTag mid-density wheat panel, developed by CIMMYT as part of the CGIAR initiative, offers a low-cost genotyping solution, but its applicability in pre-breeding programs has not been widely evaluated. This study aims to assess population structure, genetic diversity and genomic selection in a set of 484 pre-breeding bread wheat lines derived from crosses with wild relatives, using the DArTag mid-density wheat panel to investigate the ability of this genotyping approach to validate pedigrees, identify specific trait subsets and detect potential introgressions for targeted selection. Our results demonstrate that the panel captured genetic diversity in the pre-breeding population, identifying seven subpopulations with different genetic compositions; analysis confirmed the existence of private alleles associated with important agronomic traits, highlighting the role of wild relatives, especially Aegilops bicornis and Aegilops ovata, in genetic variation. In addition, the genotyping also facilitates pedigree validation and generates trait-specific sub-populations for phenotyping. The sub-populations and markers found in this work are useful resources that can be effectively used to accelerate wheat improvement, offering new insights into the contribution of wild relatives and landraces to wheat diversity.

How effective are democratic systems in preventing individuals with criminal backgrounds from holding political office? We investigate this question for the case of Norway, which has no legal restrictions against felons running for office. We analyze local election candidates from 2003 to 2019, paired with administrative records of criminal offenses. We demonstrate that individuals with criminal records are systematically penalized at every stage of their political careers. Candidates are less likely to have criminal records than the general population, with elected officials less likely to have criminal backgrounds than their unelected peers, and mayors being the most lawful. In Norway’s flexible-list PR system—where parties rank candidates and voters can cast personal votes for preferred candidates—our evidence shows that party gatekeeping accounts for most filtering, while personal votes contribute little at the margin.

Insect immunology represents a critical component of circulatory physiology research. Considering the ecological significance of mantids and their predatory roles, this study investigated the types of hemocytes and their modulation by starvation, prey quality, and temperature in Hierodula tenuidentata and Empusa fasciata. This study also documents the presence of these two species in Semnan province, Iran for the first time, expanding our knowledge of their distribution. Field-collected oothecae were incubated under controlled conditions (temperature 25 ± 1°C, relative humidity 50%, and a photoperiod of 14:10 light:dark hours) until nymphal emergence. Following hemolymph extraction and staining with Giemsa solution, four hemocyte types – prohemocytes, plasmatocytes, granulocytes, and oenocytoids – were identified in both species; spherulocytes appeared exclusively in adult H. tenuidentata under a light microscope. Differential hemocyte counts revealed granulocytes as predominant in H. tenuidentata, whereas both granulocytes and plasmatocytes were abundant in E. fasciata across developmental stages. Prohemocytes were more abundant in the early-instar nymphs than in the late-instar nymphs of both mantids. Hemocyte density declined progressively with prolonged starvation, reaching a minimum after 4 days. The highest hemocyte concentrations were observed in mantids fed grasshoppers after 1 week, whereas markedly lower counts occurred with low-quality prey, such as Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae) and Lycaena sp. (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Heat stress significantly elevated hemocyte density, whereas cold exposure induced substantial reductions in hemocyte density. Hemocyte fluctuations were more pronounced after 48 hours than after 24 hours. These findings suggest that short-term dietary deprivation, prey type, and thermal stress may rapidly alter immune profiles in H. tenuidentata and E. fasciata.

An active inceptor is a sidestick equipped with electromechanical actuators that provide programmable haptic feedback, offering pilots a tangible sense of control and enhancing their situational awareness. By integrating real-time force feedback mechanisms, active inceptors aim to improve handling qualities, reduce pilot workload, and support safer operations, particularly under dynamic or degraded flight conditions. Unlike conventional passive sidesticks, active inceptor systems (AIS) enable adaptive cueing strategies that respond to flight dynamics, control surface behaviour, and flight control laws. This review paper examines the evolving role of AIS in fly-by-wire (FBW) architectures and emerging aircraft control systems. It outlines fundamental design philosophies, summarises recent research and case studies, analyses its integration within flight control architectures, and reviews existing certification and regulatory considerations influencing AIS deployment. In addition, the paper explores potential handling quality assessment frameworks applicable to AIS. While the primary focus of this paper is the AIS application on fixed-wing aircraft, the review also highlights its established and emerging use in rotorcraft, offers insights into potential directions for future research and integration into next-generation flight platforms.

For an arbitrary negative Schwarzian unimodal map with a non-flat critical point, we establish the level-2 large deviation principle for empirical distributions. We also give an example of a bimodal map for which the level-2 large deviation principle does not hold.

Cicero’s use of the adjective repentinus at Brut. 242 (C. L. Caepasii fratres … ignoti homines et repentini) has a singularly negative and offensive meaning. Both Tertullian (Adu. Marc. 4.7.7) and Ammianus Marcellinus (14.6.13, 21.16.3) echo Cicero, employing the same adjective in conjunction with ignotus or with its synonym incognitus, albeit without the same negative and defaming nuance.

Let $G(\mathbb {R})$ be a real reductive group. Suppose $\pi $ is an irreducible representation of $G(\mathbb {R})$ having a Whittaker model, and consider three invariants of $\pi $ related to nilpotent elements of the Lie algebra of G (or its dual): the associated variety, the wave-front set, and the set of Whittaker data for which $\pi $ has a Whittaker model. If $\pi $ is a discrete series representation, these invariants are known to determine each other. We provide a self-contained account of this and related matters. Many of the results were known: we give simplified proofs for several of them, for instance a simple proof (for generic discrete series) that the associated variety and the wave-front set are related by the Kostant–Sekiguchi correspondence.

Young people are experiencing worsening mental health and a growing reliance on online tools and services to address mental health difficulties. At the same time, next-generation large language models (LLMs) that are deployed through ‘chatbot style interfaces’, using deep learning artificial intelligence akin to interacting with a human appear to mark an opportunity for mental health therapeutics when designed specifically for clinical intervention. However, emergent evidence suggests the use of more generic LLM chatbots may pose a risk of providing misinformation, bias, or over reliance for some individuals when used outside of clinical contexts for mental health. This perspective paper examines the intersection of youth mental health and the rapid adoption of LLM chatbots. It first contextualises rising mental health challenges among young people alongside their increasing reliance on digital solutions. The paper then explores the potential benefits of LLM chatbot style interfaces in clinical mental health interventions. Following this, we discuss the evidence surrounding adverse mental health outcomes from the use of generic LLMs to support mental health at population level, describing complex system-level and human-level factors noted from the evidence. Finally, we outline considerations for public health and youth mental health discourse, purpose built LLM platform design, and a supporting research agenda. While current evidence on benefits and risks from generic LLMs is emergent and not youth-specific, this perspective highlights a need for research focused on young people to ensure safe and effective use of widely available LLMs for mental health support.

The World Health Organization has declared 2021–2030 the “Decade of Healthy Ageing”, aiming for the best quality of life through health as the population ages. Beyond healthy ageing, scientists are adopting artificial intelligence technologies for longevity science which can foreseeably enable humans to routinely live to 120 years and beyond. With such breakthroughs within reach, the challenges associated with longevity need to be considered, from the impact on the social system to the possibility of an international law right to longevity, along with associated considerations such as on sustainability. This article questions whether there already is, or should be, an international human right to facilitate considerably extended lifespans, along with other relevant legal frameworks.

We re-examine recent influential claims that repeated measure experimental designs offer large precision gains without biasing treatment effect estimates in survey research. We test these claims by experimentally varying the design of six classic political science experiments across three distinct large samples of U.S. adults (total $ N=\mathrm{13,163} $). In contrast to prior evidence, we observe consistent attenuation of treatment effects in repeated measure designs. However, we show in simulations that this average design effect is small enough, and the precision gains large enough, that we recommend repeated measure designs for broad application—though (large-N) post-only designs may be preferable when research priorities include estimating the precise magnitude of a treatment effect. We additionally explore how several design considerations affect the bias-precision trade-off, such as within-subject versus between-groups designs, the relative separation of repeated measures within single surveys, and differences in respondent characteristics across sample types.

School-based interventions offer a promising setting to promote healthier nutritional behaviours (NB) such as physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB), and eating behaviour, while addressing weight social inequalities. NB changes may occur before measurable effects on weight, which can take longer to emerge. This study evaluated the overall effectiveness of the school-based PRALIMAP-INÈS trial on weight and NB social inequalities reduction among adolescents with overweight or obesity. Adolescents were divided into two intervention groups according to their socio-economic status (socially advantaged, and socially less advantaged). NB were self-reported by adolescents. Outcomes were body mass index z-score (BMIz), fruit and vegetables (FV) consumption, sweetened products and beverages (SPB) consumption, vigorous/moderate PA, walking, and SB. Overall effectiveness was estimated using generalized pairwise comparisons, estimating net benefit for each outcome (δ), and overall net benefit (Δ). Of 985 adolescents (age= 15.3 ± 0.7 years; 46.7% boys), those in less advantaged group were 12.5% more likely to have a favourable change in weight status and NB than those in advantaged group (Δ= 12.5% [6.1-19.1%]). For each outcome, net benefits were as follows: BMIz (δ= 4.2% [0.0; 8.6]), vigorous PA (δ= 4.2% [0.4; 8.3]), FV (δ= 3.2% [0.9; 5.5]), SB (δ= 0.8% [-1.6; 3.2]), SPB (δ= -0.2% [-1.1; 0.6]), moderate PA (δ= 0.2%) [-0.7; 1.1], walking (δ= 0.2% [-0.2; 0.6]). Results showed an overall beneficial effect of the PRALIMAP-INÈS trial in reducing social inequalities in weight and NB among adolescents with overweight or obesity. Long-term effectiveness could be expected by reducing social inequalities in NB.