Cruz de la Boca (CDB) is a major Epiclassic hilltop center in northern Mesoamerica, located in the transitional zone between sedentary and mobile lifeways. Fieldwork in 2001–2002 by an INAH Zacatecas team mapped architecture, construction techniques, and surface materials in the site’s nuclear zone. Systematic pedestrian survey, total station mapping, remote sensing, and GIS documented more than 15 hectares of monumental and domestic architecture. In a region where only a few hilltop centers—such as Alta Vista, La Quemada, and La Ferrería—have been mapped to comparable standards, this article places Cruz de la Boca among the best-documented sites on the northern frontier. We highlight sunken patio compounds and smaller, hut-like Loma San Gabriel (LSG)-type foundations on outer benches, treating their spatial relations as a form of social stratigraphy. Topography, architecture, and controlled excavation of a looting pit provide stratigraphic, funerary, ceramic, and lithic data situating CDB within the Alta Vista phase (ca. a.d. 600–900). We argue that CDB refocuses the Loma San Gabriel problem by showing how lighter-built peripheral residences related spatially and socially to a Chalchihuites-style monumental core.

The Supply Chain and Pharmacy breakout session focused on participants’ real-world experience with supply chain and pharmaceutical needs for their alternate care facility (ACF). This included details around acquisition and utilization of durable medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), consumables, and pharmacy stock. Participants were encouraged to discuss supply chain management considerations, resource allocation and acquisition, and influencing factors that impacted these topics. Participants explored various approaches to obtain medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, including leveraging existing vendor relationships and establishing climate-controlled storage spaces, while emphasizing the importance of electronic tracking systems and documentation. The overarching goal was to focus on what participants did and how deficiencies were managed. The discussion covered challenges in healthcare coordination during disasters, including supply chain issues, the management of unsolicited donations and volunteers, and the need for innovative solutions like drones and alternative medical applications, concluding with reflections on regulatory oversight and opportunities for process and systems improvements. The group identified several key gaps in emergency response systems, particularly the disconnect between emergency management agencies and healthcare systems, while emphasizing the need for qualified liaisons, just-in-time training, and systematic approaches to ensure effective medical resource management during crises.

We classify the sets of natural numbers n for which certain dynamical systems $(X,f)$ on a compact metric space X have a periodic point of (least) period n. Interest in this question dates back to Sharkovskii’s theorem for continuous maps on intervals of the real line, but it also ties to checkable conditions for Krieger’s embedding theorem for symbolic dynamical systems. Given a system for which the logarithmic derivative of the Artin–Mazur zeta function is rational, we use the Skolem–Mahler–Lech theorem to classify for which n the system has a periodic point of (not necessarily least) period n. Moreover, we build on work on finitely presented (FP) systems and their relationship to symbolic dynamics to classify the set of least periods, that is, periodic orbit lengths, for arbitrary FP systems, extending a known classification for shifts of finite type. We also provide several constructions to realize any such least period sets.

This article examines how the Banū Fahd of Mecca successfully established and maintained a scholarly dynasty specialising in hadith transmission across multiple generations during the Mamluk and early Ottoman periods (eighth/fourteenth–eleventh/seventeenth centuries). Drawing on social reproduction theory, the study analyses the deliberate strategies through which this family transformed itself from judge-merchants into ‘the hadith transmitters of the Hijaz’. The analysis focuses on Taqī al-Dīn Muḥammad (d. 871/1466) as the pivotal figure who systematically forged the family’s scholarly identity through multiple interconnected strategies: intensive early education of children and relatives, strategic exploitation of Mecca’s position as a pilgrimage centre to build networks with visiting scholars, creation of a family library that became a regional resource, development of sophisticated information management tools (indexes, notebooks, summaries), cultivation of excellence in manuscript copying, and elaboration of genealogical claims linking the family to ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib. These practices were consciously transmitted across several generations, creating a cumulative effect that sustained the family’s reputation into the early eleventh/seventeenth century. The study demonstrates that this scholarly dynasty succeeded not through passive inheritance but through active, systematic cultivation of multiple forms of capital—economic, social, cultural, and symbolic—deployed strategically to reproduce elite status across generations.

Fungal feed additives offer a potential avenue to enhance dairy cattle health and productivity. This narrative review examines and consolidates literature investigating the effects of products containing, or derived from, anaerobic fungi (AF), obligately aerobic filamentous fungi and yeasts. There is a sparsity of research investigating supplemental AF in cattle, but existing literature demonstrates that AF can consistently increase the digestibility of feeds. Anaerobic fungal additives are limited by their oxygen vulnerability, although characterization of the resting stage of their lifecycle would aid in the development of products which could be used on farm. The majority of research investigating aerobic fungi in dairy cattle is based upon their fermentation products. These products often enhance digestibility variables in cattle, which sometimes benefits growth and production. Inconsistent responses, which are attributed to heterogenous product composition and rumen stability, hinder the industry utility of these additives, and further research is required to define the conditions required for efficacy. A large body of research exists examining the effects of active yeast and yeast derivatives in mature cattle and calves. In-depth examination of this research is beyond the scope of this review, but substantial evidence suggests that supplementing dairy cattle with yeast can be advantageous for gut health and development, production and stress tolerance. This review highlights the pathways through which exogenous fungi can enhance dairy production, and that further research is required to define the causes of inconsistent responses from treatments. This will increase the value of fungal additives to the dairy sector.

After the Occultation of the Twelfth Imam (al-ghaybah al-kubrā) in the fourth AH/tenth CE century, the applicability of divinely ordained punishments, ḥudūd, became a subject of theo-juridical controversies between two groups of Shiʿi jurists: pro- and anti-ḥudūd. In the aftermath of the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and the establishment of a Shiʿi theocracy, Iranian theocrats supported the pro-ḥudūd Shiʿi jurists, and as a result, ḥudūd punishments were incorporated into the Islamic Penal Code and have been applied by the state ever since. Some Iranian legal reformers, recognizing the challenges in applying ḥudūd punishments, have put forward two politico-juridical mechanisms (zarfiyat): the secondary ruling and the state order. These two mechanisms, the reformers assert, may be used by the Islamic Republic of Iran to suspend ḥudūd punishments. In this article, I examine both the arguments presented by reformers and the objections to these arguments raised by conservative and Shiʿi orthodox-minded jurists. These objections pose doctrinal challenges that impede the utilization of these mechanisms, thus obstructing the suspension of ḥudūd punishments.

What it means for a provision to be “incompatible” with Convention rights is crucial in determining whether courts with the power to do so ought to make a declaration of incompatibility under section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (“HRA”). A clear understanding of incompatibility is also necessary for the proper operation of statements of compatibility under section 19 HRA. It is crucial for the devolved legislatures whose incompatible legislation is “not law”. And delegated legislation can be struck down, or declared incompatible, by a court for the same reason. Yet the test for determining incompatibility remains unclear and understudied. The lack of clarity threatens both rights protection and dialogue between the different branches, and layers, of the state. This article argues that the test currently favoured sets the bar inappropriately high and that the test must more clearly consider both the potential extent, and the likelihood, of the breach.

This study reports the first confirmed record of the Red Sea goatfish Parupeneus forsskali in Italian waters. Since November 2024, several individuals have been collected around Lampedusa Island, in the Strait of Sicily. Morphological and meristic examination of one specimen supported its identification, which was further validated through COI barcode sequencing. The reconstruction of relationships among conspecifics revealed a well-supported clade comprising Red Sea and Mediterranean P. forsskali, clearly distinct from Indo-Pacific specimens. The present record contributes to the growing evidence of the species’ westward expansion in the Mediterranean and provides new insights into its distribution, ecological traits, and potential impacts. The findings also highlight the important role of local fishers in the early detection of non-indigenous marine species.

The brittle star Ophiocoma scolopendrina, a dominant species in the polluted intertidal sediments of Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, faces chronic exposure to heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), a persistent anthropogenic pollutant known for its toxicity to marine biota. This study provides the first histological evidence of Cd-induced delays in arm regeneration in O. scolopendrina, highlighting its vulnerability as a benthic echinoderm in contaminated ecosystems. Specimens were collected, acclimated, and subjected to arm amputation, with regenerative histology monitored at intervals (24 hours, 72 hours, 7 days, 14 days, 21 days, 35 days, and 42 days post-amputation) under control conditions and Cd exposure (50 µg/l CdCl2). Regeneration followed a typical epimorphic process, involving repair, early regenerative, intermediate regenerative, and advanced regenerative phases, characterized by epidermal migration, re-epithelialization, and formation of a regenerative bud with proliferative cellular accumulations. Cd exposure significantly delayed wound closure (from 24 hours in controls to 72 hours in treated samples), reduced arm length (12 vs. 17.65 mm at 42 days), and redirected resources towards podial development and coelomic expansion rather than axial regrowth. Histological anomalies included disorganized skeletal ossicles and fragile connective tissues, indicative of Cd’s interference with calcium-dependent biomineralization, as further demonstrated by supplementary video evidence of mechanical fragility in regenerated arms, suggesting potential long-term impairment in further regeneration or survival under stress. These findings underscore the ecotoxicological risks of Cd pollution to echinoderm regeneration and ecosystem functions in the Persian Gulf, offering baseline data for biomonitoring and conservation in heavy metal-impacted marine habitats.

Conservation biocontrol is crucial for crop pest management, but the impact of agricultural management practices on natural enemies of crop pests is poorly characterised. The timing of crop sowing could impact arthropod communities by altering basal resource availability and quality, manifesting in altered nutrient availability for herbivorous arthropods and cascading impacts on natural enemy fitness and function. This study investigates how the timing of crop sowing impacts arthropod predator nutrition and whether associated differences relate to changes in prey availability. Arthropod predators and their prey were collected from adjacent plots of winter- and spring-sown wheat. The biochemical macronutrient (carbohydrate, lipid and protein) content of predators was determined by colourimetric assays and compared between winter- and spring-sown crops using multivariate models. Predator nutrient contents were compared to prey availability inferred using null network models based on both recent and current prey abundances. The nutrient contents of arthropod predators differed significantly between winter- and spring-sown wheat, driven by differences in carbohydrate content, and prey abundances similarly differed, but neither recent nor current prey availability explained differences in predator nutrition. These findings may indicate that prey quality, rather than identity, changes with the developmental stages of crops sown at different times. The different nutritional states of predators in crops sown at different times may have important implications for the spillover of natural enemies of crop pests between crops.

This article investigates the extent to which American Muslims express solidarity with Black-led social movements, focusing on the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. American Muslims occupy a unique position in the US social landscape as a faith-based group that is racialized and frequently experiences surveillance and subjugation when encountering US law enforcement. Using data from two nationally representative online panel surveys of American Muslims conducted in 2020—the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding survey and the Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey—this study finds that Muslims report relatively higher levels of support for BLM compared to other religious groups (e.g., Christian and Jewish) and other ethnoracial groups (e.g., Latinos and Asian Americans). These findings provide further insight into American Muslims and their linkage to Black social movements, given the role of Black communities—particularly Black Muslims—in shaping the social foundations and political mobilization of American Islam. This research contributes to ongoing conversations about interminority group relations amid a shifting democracy in the United States.

Hysterothylacium thalassini third-stage larvae (L3), commonly found in marine fish, are known to induce liver injury, oxidative stress, and immune disturbances when transmitted to mammalian hosts. This study investigated the pathological effects of purified crude extracts derived from fresh, heat-treated, and frozen L3 larvae on liver function, oxidative status, and immune responses in a murine model. Thirty Saurida tumbil fish were examined for L3 larvae, which were processed under three conditions: fresh (24 ± 2 °C for 60 min), heat-treated (100 °C for 60 min), and frozen (−20 °C for 24 h). Twenty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly allocated into four groups and inoculated with larval extracts at a 14-day interval. Mice exposed to fresh larval extracts exhibited significant weight loss, elevated liver enzymes (ALT, AST, ALP), hyperglycemia, and reduced total protein levels, alongside severe hepatic damage characterized by necrosis and inflammatory infiltration. Antioxidant enzyme activities (CAT and SOD) were markedly decreased, whereas oxidative stress markers (NO and H₂O₂) were increased. Additionally, there was significant upregulation of iNOS, TNF-α, and IL-10 gene expression, accompanied by elevated iNOS, IL-10, and IgE protein levels, indicating strong inflammatory and Th2-type immune responses. In contrast, extracts from heat-treated and frozen larvae resulted in attenuated pathological effects, including improved liver function, reduced oxidative stress, and moderated immune responses. These findings demonstrate that untreated L3 larval extracts exert pronounced hepatotoxic and immunomodulatory effects, while thermal and freezing treatments significantly reduce their pathogenicity and support immune homeostasis, highlighting potential strategies to mitigate parasite-induced host damage.

War was an important, and underappreciated, force circulating global goods into and around early modern Britain. Capture at sea brought millions of pounds of merchandise into the British Isles, offering new groups of consumers new ways of participating in the expanding world of things. By tracing the presence in early modern Britain of paintings from colonial Spanish America, we better appreciate the economic, social, and cultural significance of maritime predation. We also identify new sources to explore the early modern world of goods, from the Admiralty records that document these captures, to literary celebrations of patriotic sea-dogs seizing Spanish treasure galleons, and family legends attributing a pirate provenance to Spanish American artworks. We should, in short, pay more attention to the role of war and violence in setting early modern goods in motion.

Are scientists incentivized to share intermediate results? Some recent work has argued that credit-maximizing scientists would share intermediate results, whereas other work has argued that sharing too much too quickly can hinder a community’s achievement of epistemic goals. This suggests a tradeoff between scientists’ credit-based self-interest and what is epistemically best. We make this tradeoff explicit in an agent-based NK landscape model, where credit-maximizing scientists face a prisoner’s dilemma due to collective epistemic and credit benefits from withholding. Multiple coders independently implemented the model, leading us to identify several coding errors. We reflect on this code comparison experience.