A new genus and species of arachnid (Chelicerata: Arachnida), Douglassarachne acanthopoda n. gen. n. sp., is described from the late Carboniferous (Moscovian) Coal Measures of the Mazon Creek Lagerstätte, Illinois, USA. This is a unique animal with distinctive large spines on the legs. It has a subovate body, a segmented opisthosoma, and a terminal anal tubercle. The legs are robust and appear to have been similar in construction throughout the limb series, with heavy spination of the preserved proximal podomeres. The mouthparts and coxo-sternal region are equivocal. The preserved character combination does not permit easy referral to any known arachnid order, living or extinct, thus the new fossil in placed as Arachnida/Pantetrapulmonata incertae sedis. It contributes to an emerging pattern of disparate body plans among late Carboniferous arachnids, ranging from anatomically modern members of living orders through to extinct taxa, such as the present fossil, whose phylogenetic position remains unresolved.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/b70f5f95-9c8b-4389-bee5-b6031bff2ee2

In its 75th ordinary session, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR, or Commission), the human rights organ of the African Union, with a mandate to promote and protect human and peoples’ rights and interpret the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, unanimously adopted the African Guiding Principles on the Human Rights of Migrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Guiding Principles). They were publicly launched by the Commission at its 77th ordinary session on October 21, 2023. The drafting was led by the Commission's Special Rapporteur on Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Internally Displaced Persons, and Migrants in Africa. The thirty-eight Guiding Principles are based largely on African regional treaty law, case law, standards, and resolutions of the Commission and also draw from complementary international law. In addition, the Guiding Principles draw from the experience of other world regions, including adoption by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the human rights organ of the Organization for American States) of the 2019 Inter-American Principles on the Human Rights of All Migrants, Refugees, Stateless Persons, and Victims of Human Trafficking.

The apocalypse is frequently deployed by political movements, especially contemporary climate activists, to advance their causes. This article develops a framework for defending such invocations of the end of the world. With many other political theorists, I suggest that the apocalypse is a dangerous concept, not least because of its association with authoritarian accounts of history. However, we should not reject the apocalypse. I argue for a form of anti-anti-apocalypticism, using the criticisms directed against the concept as a launchpad to rethink it in viable terms. While acknowledging the value of different ways of defending the apocalypse, I highlight the importance of the causes of apocalyptic movements. Simply put, apocalypses from below are defensible because they have the capacity to clarify the political position of the oppressed and open new political possibilities for the group. By contrast, apocalypses from above, because they fail to fulfill these functions, are not.

In this article, I argue that because co-nationals have an intrinsically valuable relationship, they have a presumptive claim against interference in their collective affairs. My argument from the claim that co-nationals have an intrinsically valuable relationship to the presumptive claim against interference is threefold, and I set it out in section “From Intrinsic Value to Self-Determination”: firstly, parties to an intrinsically valuable relationship have a respect-based claim to autonomy. Secondly, the relationship between co-nationals realizes some important goods, and collective autonomy is internally related to these. Finally, the fact that co-nationals have an intrinsically valuable relationship, and affective attachments means that they have a strong interest in carrying out certain activities together, without interference from outsiders. In section “Grounding the Presumptive Claim,” I argue that these three grounds cumulatively amount to a presumptive claim to collective autonomy. I outline the implications for the issue of secession.

A new species of congrid eel genus, Ariosoma is described here based on two mature female specimens collected from trawl by-catch landings at Thoothukudi fishing harbour, off Thoothukudi, Bay of Bengal. The new species can be easily distinguished from its congeners in having pre-anal length 48.7–49.1% TL; dorsal-fin origin just before pectoral-fin insertion; body bicoloured, pale brown dorsally and silvery white ventrally; preopercular portion dark; pectoral fin reddish with dark spot at the base; SO canal with six pores; pre-dorsal vertebrae 10–11; pre-anal vertebrae 61–64; total vertebrae 162–163. Further, the new species differs from all the congeners of Indian waters in having more total vertebrae, except A. albimaculatum (162–163 vs 129–153 in others; 161–164 in A. albimaculatum). The new species identity was also supported by molecular analyses using the mitochondrial COI gene and the result revealed that the new species is closely related to Ariosoma maurostigma and Ariosoma albimaculatum with a pair-wise genetic distance of 11.4% and 11.6% followed by A. melanospilos with 16.8%.

In our paper testing the Cutler–Hawkins hypothesis that suffixes are easier to process than prefixes (Harris & Samuel 2025), we report little experimental support for the hypothesis. Several sources treat clitics as being similar to affixes (e.g. Himmelmann 2014, Asao 2015), and some argue that there is a parallel preference for enclitics over proclitics (Cysouw 2005, Dryer 2017). On this basis, we test an extension of the Cutler–Hawkins hypothesis to clitics because if true, that too could explain the suffixing preference (as well as the putative enclitic preference). Cutler et al. (1985) also state a hypothesis about the processing of infixes. Udi provides an excellent language for testing both hypotheses, since each person clitic in this language can occur before the verb, after the verb, between morphemes of the verb or inside the verbal root, under certain circumstances (Harris 2002). Although European Portuguese does not place clitics inside roots, it utilizes the other three placements. We have conducted three experiments on each language. The results demonstrate that an explanation for either the suffixing preference or the putative enclitic preference is unlikely to be grounded in the processing factors suggested by Cutler & Hawkins.

We resolve some questions posed by Handelman in 1996 concerning log convex $L^1$ functions. In particular, we give a negative answer to a question he posed concerning the integrability of $h^2(x)/h(2x)$ when h is $L^1$ and log convex and $h(n)^{1/n}\rightarrow 1$.

Leucites are tetrahedrally coordinated silicate framework structures with some of the silicon framework cations that are partially replaced by divalent or trivalent cations. These structures have general formulae A2BSi5O12 and ACSi2O6, where A is a monovalent alkali metal cation, B is a divalent cation, and C is a trivalent cation. There are also leucite analogs with analogous tetrahedrally coordinated germanate framework structures. These have general formulae A2BGe5O12 and ACGe2O6. In this paper, the Rietveld refinements of three synthetic Ge-leucite analogs with stoichiometries of AAlGe2O6 (A = K, Rb, Cs) are discussed. KAlGe2O6 is I41/a tetragonal and is isostructural with KAlSi2O6. RbAlGe2O6 and CsAlGe2O6 are $I\bar{4}3d$ cubic and are isostructural with KBSi2O6.

The Seventh Dalai Lama's residence at Gartar Monastery, which began in 1730, greatly affected the relationship between the Kham region and the Tibetan government as well as the Qing court's control over Kham. The Dalai Lama's interactions with various indigenous leaders, local monasteries, monks and lay people increased the influence of the Geluk school in Kham, and also inspired their support for the Dalai Lama. Measures adopted by the Qing court to protect the Dalai Lama, such as stationing troops and inspecting checkpoints, also strengthened Qing control of Kham. After the Dalai Lama left for Tibet in 1735, Gartar Monastery continued to serve as a religious and cultural centre of northern Kham, with the purpose of “civilizing” and “enlightening” the neighbouring regions that were far away from the political centre. Successive abbots of Gartar Monastery – right up to 1920 – came from Drepung Monastery in Lhasa; they and the Gartar monks influenced, interfered with and controlled the local affairs of Gartar and other regions in Kham. In particular, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Gartar Monastery, together with the Tibetan commissioner in Nyarong, was able to assist in the Tibetan government's efforts to extend its sphere of influence in Kham.

We establish power-series expansions for the asymptotic expectations of the vertex number and missed area of random disc-polygons in planar convex bodies with $C^{k+1}_+$-smooth boundaries. These results extend asymptotic formulas proved in Fodor et al. (2014).

A healthy diet is at the forefront of measures to prevent type 2 diabetes. Certain vegetable and fish oils, such as pine nut oil (PNO), have been demonstrated to ameliorate the adverse metabolic effects of a high-fat diet. The present study investigates the involvement of the free fatty acid receptors 1 (FFAR1) and 4 (FFAR4) in the chronic activity of hydrolysed PNO (hPNO) on high-fat diet-induced obesity and insulin resistance. Male C57BL/6J wild-type, FFAR1 knockout (-/-) and FFAR4-/- mice were placed on 60 % high-fat diet for 3 months. Mice were then dosed hPNO for 24 d, during which time body composition, energy intake and expenditure, glucose tolerance and fasting plasma insulin, leptin and adiponectin were measured. hPNO improved glucose tolerance and decreased plasma insulin in the wild-type and FFAR1-/- mice, but not the FFAR4-/- mice. hPNO also decreased high-fat diet-induced body weight gain and fat mass, whilst increasing energy expenditure and plasma adiponectin. None of these effects on energy balance were statistically significant in FFAR4-/- mice, but it was not shown that they were significantly less than in wild-type mice. In conclusion, chronic hPNO supplementation reduces the metabolically detrimental effects of high-fat diet on obesity and insulin resistance in a manner that is dependent on the presence of FFAR4.

Education is a prerequisite for the attainment of sustainable development, with multiplier effects on society. This study examines the possibility of achieving inclusive and equitable education under the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, AU Agenda 2063 and ECOWAS Vision 2050. Copyright plays an essential role in either encouraging or barring access to educational materials, which are necessary for the attainment of SDG 4. Through a desk study using the laws and policies of English-speaking West African countries (Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone), the article examines the copyright laws of these jurisdictions in order to determine how they facilitate or stop access to knowledge. It finds that most of the jurisdictions (except Nigeria) have not maximized the flexibilities available for access to knowledge through copyright limitations and exceptions, thereby barring access to educational materials. It recommends a review of national copyright legislations in line with a developmental perspective.

Amidst the Russian aggression against Ukraine, peace and stability within the geostrategic region of the Western Balkans have come under the spotlight. While some have called for the “denazification” of the Balkans, others have firmly supported Ukraine. Among the six non-European Union states in the Balkans, the Republic of Serbia is perceived as the most visible and longstanding supporter, akin to a brotherly state, of the Russian Federation. This article aims to investigate President Vučić’s narrative in his Addresses to the Nation concerning the war in Ukraine. The objective is to gain a better understanding of Serbia’s foreign policy positioning with regard to the conflict in Ukraine. Anchored in the Regional Security Complex theory, the article examines President Vučić’s Addresses to the Nation from February 2022 to February 2023, revealing Serbia’s consistent insistence on independent decision-making in foreign policy matters, including in the context of the war in Ukraine. These Addresses to the Nation further reinforce the notion of Serbia’s multi-vector foreign policy, while also utilizing the war in Ukraine to reignite public discussions on the importance of Kosovo to Serbia’s foreign policy.

High-resolution sedimentological and geochronological investigations of paleochannel systems in the Ried Central d'Alsace (northeastern France) allow for the reconstruction of the late glacial and Holocene fluvial evolution of this section of the Upper Rhine alluvial plain. During the Oldest Dryas, the landscape featured a dominant braided Rhine system and, to a lesser extent, a braided Fecht system. The shift to the Bølling-Allerød saw a narrowing of the Rhine's active channel belt, the development of a complex channel pattern, and the genesis of the Ill River. The river channel patterns remained unchanged during the Younger Dryas. In the Early Holocene, the Rhine's active belt narrowed further, and the Rhine and Ill Rivers developed braided-anastomosing and anastomosing channel patterns, respectively. Throughout the Holocene, both rivers maintained their channel patterns while migrating east and west across the alluvial plain, respectively. In the late glacial, fluvial dynamics in this section of the Upper Rhine plain were primarily influenced by climate-related environmental and hydrogeomorphological changes. Conversely, during the Holocene, the evolution of the fluvial hydrosystems was driven by a complex interaction of climatic and non-climatic factors, including human activity at the catchment scale, alluvial plain architecture, and local neotectonics.

This article explores the decolonization of heritage politics in 1970s Hong Kong. It firstly revisits recent scholars’ work on Hong Kong heritage politics and the transformation of Hong Kong’s cultural identity. It shows how people’s perceptions of their colonial heritage and history in Hong Kong have changed since the 1970s. Secondly, it outlines the city’s cultural heritage policy framework after the 1967 Riots, inspired by the Cultural Revolution. It analyses how the colonial government intentionally rebranded the city’s colonial heritage as an anachronism to justify its new narrative of Hong Kong and its cultural identity in the 1970s. It also employs the demolition of the former Kowloon Railway Station building in the 1970s as a case study to discuss how the colonial government decolonized local colonial structures through its new cultural heritage policy approach after the Riots. Finally, by employing the case study of the demolished Central Star Ferry Pier in the 2000s, this article argues there was a change in people’s perceptions of the city’s colonial history in the early postcolonial period of Hong Kong. A more active notion of Hong Kong’s cultural identity is also being articulated in the uncertain future due to the city’s recent rapid political and social changes influenced by the mainland authority.