We provide conditions under which a generalized shift-invariant (GSI) system can be approximated by a GSI system for which the generators have compact support in the Fourier domain. The approximation quality will be measured in terms of the Bessel bound (upper frame bound) for the difference between the two GSI systems. In particular, this leads to easily verifiable conditions for a perturbation of a GSI system to preserve the frame property.

The proliferation of English as an international language has had significant ramifications for the teaching and learning of languages in various educational contexts (Yu & Liu, 2022). Within the realm of higher education, the adoption of English-medium instruction (EMI) has been a particularly contentious issue, with debates raging over its potential benefits and drawbacks (Bolton et al., 2022; Bolton, Botha & Lin, 2023). One potential approach to addressing the challenges posed by EMI is the adoption of translanguaging practices, which involve the utilization of multiple languages or language varieties in communication and learning. While the concept of translanguaging has gained increasing traction in recent years, there remains a paucity of empirical research on its implementation and impact within Sino-US educational institutions where translanguaging and EMI are facing enviable pedagogical dueling.

Let $n$ be an integer congruent to $0$ or $3$ modulo $4$. Under the assumption of the ABC conjecture, we prove that, given any integer $m$ fulfilling only a certain coprimeness condition, there exist infinitely many imaginary quadratic fields having an everywhere unramified Galois extension of group $A_n \times C_m$. The same result is obtained unconditionally in special cases.

How do Asian Americans think about their ethnic origin? How do ethnic identities affect political preferences? Drawing on interviews with a diverse group of Asian Americans, I provide a nuanced understanding of how they think about their ethnic origin and pan-ethnic identities. The findings reveal that ethnicity plays a significant role in shaping electoral preferences, as Asian Americans exhibit coethnicity preferences, conditional on partisanship. Moreover, I uncover several factors that have been underexplored in the existing literature, including transnational ties, news consumption, and political preferences on foreign policies related to their home country. This article provides a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of Asian American identities by showing that the ethnic origin roots of Asian Americans can have significant influence on their political interests and candidate preferences.

Given a fixed graph $H$ and a constant $c \in [0,1]$, we can ask what graphs $G$ with edge density $c$ asymptotically maximise the homomorphism density of $H$ in $G$. For all $H$ for which this problem has been solved, the maximum is always asymptotically attained on one of two kinds of graphs: the quasi-star or the quasi-clique. We show that for any $H$ the maximising $G$ is asymptotically a threshold graph, while the quasi-clique and the quasi-star are the simplest threshold graphs, having only two parts. This result gives us a unified framework to derive a number of results on graph homomorphism maximisation, some of which were also found quite recently and independently using several different approaches. We show that there exist graphs $H$ and densities $c$ such that the optimising graph $G$ is neither the quasi-star nor the quasi-clique (Day and Sarkar, SIAM J. Discrete Math. 35(1), 294–306, 2021). We also show that for $c$ large enough all graphs $H$ maximise on the quasi-clique (Gerbner et al., J. Graph Theory 96(1), 34–43, 2021), and for any $c \in [0,1]$ the density of $K_{1,2}$ is always maximised on either the quasi-star or the quasi-clique (Ahlswede and Katona, Acta Math. Hung. 32(1–2), 97–120, 1978). Finally, we extend our results to uniform hypergraphs.

A fleet of aircraft can be seen as a set of degrading systems that undergo variable loads as they fly missions and require maintenance throughout their lifetime. Optimal fleet management aims to maximise fleet availability while minimising overall maintenance costs. To achieve this goal, individual aircraft, with variable age and degradation paths, need to operate cooperatively to maintain high fleet availability while avoiding mechanical failure by scheduling preventive maintenance actions. In recent years, reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as an effective method to optimise complex sequential decision-making problems. In this paper, an RL framework to optimise the operation and maintenance of a fleet of aircraft is developed. Three cases studies, with varying number of aircraft in the fleet, are used to demonstrate the ability of the RL policies to outperform traditional operation/maintenance strategies. As more aircraft are added to the fleet, the combinatorial explosion of the number of possible actions is identified as a main computational limitation. We conclude that the RL policy has potential to support fleet management operators and call for greater research on the application of multi-agent RL for fleet availability optimisation.

Grassland production based on cutting-only and an increasing frequency of prolonged periods of drought due to climate change could lead to decreased productivity in Lolium perenne. In field experiments, we tested whether Festuca arundinacea and Phleum pratense could be suitable alternatives to L. perenne on intensively managed grassland on clay, peat and sandy soil. The three grasses were sown in mixture with Poa pratensis and Trifolium repens and subjected to different frequencies of defoliation representing a cutting-only system, simulated grazing system and a mixed system. We found that in systems with at least six defoliations, F. arundinacea represented an acceptable compromise between feed quality (6.4 MJ net energy/kg dry matter (DM), 19.3% crude protein, CP), persistence (mass proportion >90%), and DM yield (12.7 Mg/ha). However, for dairy production based on intensive cutting-only systems, the quality of F. arundinacea was insufficient (5.9 MJ net energy/kg DM, 15.6% CP). Mixtures with P. pratense as the main sown species did not differ significantly in production of net energy and CP from L. perenne in cutting-only systems on sandy soil. On peat land, all sown mixtures were invaded by Holcus lanatus. We found that under frequent defoliation conditions, H. lanatus-rich swards had comparatively good DM yields (9.2 Mg/ha) and a feed quality that would be sufficient for dairy cow nutrition (net energy, 6.2–6.4 MJ/kg DM; 18.8–20.4% CP). We conclude that there is potential to adapt the choice of grasses and mixtures in different production systems to meet the challenges of climate change.

Childhood maltreatment is associated with wide-ranging psychopathology at all stages of life. In the current study, we investigated whether posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity mediated the association between childhood maltreatment and internalizing and externalizing disorders among 262 South African trauma-exposed adolescents (aged 12–18 years). Childhood maltreatment and PTSD symptom severity were assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and the Child PTSD Checklist, respectively. Psychiatric disorders were assessed utilizing the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime version and were grouped into internalizing or externalizing disorders. Hierarchal logistic regression was used to assess the association of childhood maltreatment subtype with internalizing and externalizing disorders, controlling for age and gender, with PTSD symptom severity added to the final model. We found that sexual abuse was significantly associated with internalizing disorders, although this effect was no longer significant when PTSD was added to the model demonstrating that PTSD mediated the association between sexual abuse and internalizing disorders. Physical abuse, but not PTSD, was associated with externalizing disorders. Physical abuse, emotional neglect, and PTSD were associated with comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders. These findings have implications for intervention and prevention strategies targeted at trauma-exposed adolescents with a history of childhood maltreatment.

In recent years, the architectural legacy and so-called ‘difficult heritage’ of Fascist Italy has become a flourishing field of research. These topics have also begun to make their way into the undergraduate classroom. To date, however, there has been little research carried out into the methods we use to teach the history of Fascism in particular. In this short article, we outline how we have applied problem-based learning and scenario-based learning approaches to tackle this topic. After presenting three assignments, we explain the benefits associated with a PBL/SBL approach, summarised under the headings of interdisciplinarity, creativity and authenticity, before highlighting some aspects on which colleagues may wish to reflect if they are considering adopting a similar approach in their teaching.

The current paper is focused on the conceptual design of a thermal management system with a liquid working medium for a commuter hybrid-electric aircraft, featuring a series propulsion configuration. Regarding the system’s architecture, parametric analyses are conducted, by altering the number of heat exchangers. To clarify, a centralised and a decentralised thermal management system architecture are examined. Furthermore, a computational model calculates the temperatures during the system’s operation and the required coolant mass flows to sufficiently cool all the compartments. Subsequently, the required heat exchanger surface is determined and the weight of each compartment that comprises the thermal management system can be calculated. It is worth noting, that the compartments’ cold plate weight is integrated. The results indicate that the decentralised configuration results in lower temperature fields for all components compared to the centralised configuration. However, the latter weighs 32.2% lower at 158.22kg while the decentralised configuration weighs 233.48kg.

This study was designed to assess the relationship between dietary insulin index (DII) and dietary insulin load (DIL) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) risk in a case–control study. This study enrolled ninety-five newly diagnosed RA patients and 200 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Dietary intakes were assessed using a validated 168-item semi-quantitative FFQ. DII and DIL were calculated using food insulin index values from previously published data. In the unadjusted model, individuals in the highest DIL tertile had the significantly higher odds of RA than those in the lowest tertile of the DIL scores (OR = 1·32, 95 % CI (1·15, 1·78), Pfor trend = 0·009). After adjusting for confounders, the risk of RA was 2·73 times higher for participants in the highest tertile of DIL than for those in the lowest tertile (OR = 2·73, 95 % CI (1·22, 3·95), Pfor trend < 0·001). In addition, patients in the highest DII tertile had higher risk of RA than those in the first tertile (OR = 2·22, 95 % CI (1·48, 3·95), Pfor trend = 0·008). This association persisted after adjusting for potential confounders (OR = 3·75, 95 % CI (3·18, 6·78), Pfor trend = 0·002). Our findings suggest that diets high in DII and DIL may increase the risk of developing RA, independent of other potential confounders. These findings can be verified by more research, particularly with a prospective design.

Scholars recognize the important role that diasporas play in conflict dynamics, including efforts to build peace in conflict-affected communities. Broader academic research emphasizes a focus on local conditions and actors, as well as site-specific understandings of peace and peacebuilding practices. This focus on specific communities and contexts often draws on qualitative, narrative-driven data, predominantly collected through interviewing. This article identifies some of the core challenges related to data collection encountered during semi-structured interviews in a study of Somali diaspora members in Melbourne, Australia. We emphasize how issues associated with cross-cultural and gendered understandings of concepts related to peacebuilding can affect each stage of a research project, from the preliminary collection of data to the analysis and discussion of research implications. Specifically, we address challenges related to instances of conceptual dissonance that occur when researchers employ cross-cultural and gendered concepts—in this case, peace, peacebuilding, and leadership. The findings will benefit conflict researchers who work with socially distant groups and ethnically divided populations more broadly, along with those who employ interpretivist methodologies that focus on how meaning making might ultimately influence peacebuilding practices and outcomes.

What is the nature of religious faith as understood in the Abrahamic tradition? This article suggests a novel answer to this question. To this end, I first outline five desiderata, characterized by appealing to conceptions of faith in both the Islamic and Christian traditions, which I think every adequate account of faith should satisfy. These five desiderata are: (1) explaining the principle of the relationship between faith and religious actions; (2) accounting for the maxim of the relationship between faith and moral virtues; (3) showing how the thesis of the priority of faith over knowledge can be the case; (4) providing a basis for the axiom of the gradability of faith; and (5) solving the dilemma of faith as a gift or an achievement. Then I make my case and develop a model of faith that satisfies all five desiderata. Following the accounts in the literature that describes faith as a kind of know-how, the central idea of my suggestion is that religious faith is partly constituted by intellectual, practical, and moral skills.

In 2018, Nigeria began the implementation of a cash transfer programme (CCT) for poor and vulnerable people. We evaluated the impact of cash transfer on household livelihood outcomes in Nigeria. Using multistage cluster sampling methodology, beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries within the same locality were randomly selected to participate in a survey to assess the impact of cash transfer on food security and food diversity.

When gender, marital status, educational status, and age were controlled, beneficiaries were about three times more likely than non-beneficiaries to report experiencing little or no hunger. Children 0–59 months of beneficiaries were twice likely to have at least three meals a day compared to children of non-beneficiaries. Difference in differences regression analysis showed that on the average, beneficiaries of the cash transfer significantly consumed more diverse food than non-beneficiaries. Beneficiaries of the CCT experienced fewer episodes of severe hunger, have more meal frequency, and higher household dietary diversity than non-beneficiaries. This shows that the CCT programme is effective and can directly mitigate adverse effects of malnutrition with its long-term negative impact on children and thus must be expanded to more vulnerable people across all states in Nigeria.

From 2013 to 2015, China gradually established nationwide air quality monitoring stations and began to release real-time air pollution information to the public. We exploit step-by-step environmental regulations across cities to identify the effects of information disclosure on air pollution. We find that information disclosure significantly decreases the concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10. Through mechanism analysis, we find that information disclosure raises the level of government awareness, increases the amount of investments in air pollution prevention and control, stimulates green innovation, and forces heavily polluting enterprises to shut down. Additionally, we find evidence that the effectiveness of information disclosure varies across cities.

The new terricolous lichen species Thamnolecania yunusii Halıcı, Güllü, Bölükbaşı & Kahraman, which is characterised by its cream to greyish brown granulose-crustose thallus without vegetative propagules, is described from Horseshoe Island in the South-West Antarctic Peninsula region. All Thamnolecania species are known only from the Antarctic. The only species of the genus with a crustose thallus is T. racovitzae, but it differs from T. yunusii by growing on rocks, having an effuse to subeffigurate thallus that is sometimes isidiate and with shorter and narrower ascospores (c. 15 × 3.5 µm vs. 15.5–19.5 × 3.5–5.5 µm). The nrITS, mtSSU and RPB1 gene regions of the new species were studied and the phylogenetic position of the species was shown to be in the same clade as Thamnolecania gerlachei, T. brialmontii and T. racovitzae, but occurs on a different branch from these species. As T. yunusii is an Antarctic endemic, like the other Thamnolecania species, and most of the morphological characters fit well with this genus, we describe this new species under the genus Thamnolecania.

This research paper presents an application of the integrated process and product design (IPPD) approach for selecting the best joint configuration for dissimilar material joining in the early product design phase. The proposed methodology integrates the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach with quality function deployment (QFD) to identify the key criteria for joint selection, including load-carrying capacity, size, cost per joint, ease of manufacturing, time consumption and deformation. Three types of joints (rivet, weld and adhesive) and two hybrid joints (adhesive-weld and adhesive-rivet) are considered for three dissimilar material configurations: carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) aluminum, CFRP steel, and aluminum-steel. QFD is utilised to transform job requirements into design criteria, and in the second phase, the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is employed to choose the optimal joint configuration based on the weighted criteria acquired in the previous phase. The selected joint configuration is then validated through experimental study. The findings demonstrate that the proposed IPPD approach with QFD-TOPSIS techniques is highly effective for selecting mechanical joints for dissimilar material joining in the early design phase. The study concludes that the adhesive-rivet hybrid joint is the optimal solution among all alternatives. The proposed methodology can ultimately lead to improved product reliability and performance, as well as reduced development time and cost.

This article deals with the impact of intra-party transformations and access to power on the visions of political participation of activists taking part in populist anti-establishment parties with a strong emphasis on digital participation, using the Five Star Movement (M5S) as a case study. Going beyond studies conceiving the M5S as a populist and digital party, we argue that activists support a democratic ideal based on a civic culture involving a demanding role for ordinary citizens, who should be highly interested in politics and involved locally on a day-to-day basis. A negative vision of the Italian citizen judged as incapable of playing this role accompanies this ideal. Our article also demonstrates how political involvement in the M5S transformed the visions of activists, making them warier of direct democracy and more disillusioned about their fellow citizens. The analysis relies on qualitative semi-directed interviews with former and current M5S activists with diversified socio-demographics, political and participation trajectories in two Italian regions. More broadly, our article shows that the effects of entering government and intra-party reforms reinforcing the leadership at the expense of local activists are particularly strong in anti-establishment parties and clash with the conceptions of participation supported by activists.

Abnormalities in the zona pellucida (ZP) adversely affect oocyte maturation, embryo development and pregnancy outcomes. However, the assessment of severity is challenging. To evaluate the effects of different degrees of ZP abnormalities on embryo development and clinical outcomes, in total, 590 retrieval cycles were scored and divided into four categories (control, mild, moderate and severe) based on three parameters: perivitelline space, percentage of immature oocytes and percentage of oocytes with abnormal morphology. As the severity of abnormal ZP increased, both the number of retrieved oocytes and mature oocytes decreased. The fertilization rate did not differ significantly among groups. The rates of embryo cleavage and day-3 high-quality embryos in the mild group and the moderate group did not vary significantly between the two groups but were significantly higher than those in the severe group. The blastulation rates of the abnormal ZP groups were similar; however, they were lower than those of the control group. Moreover, the cycle cancellation rate of the severe abnormal ZP group was as high as 66.20%, which was significantly higher than that of the other three groups. Although the rates of cumulative clinical pregnancy and live births were lower than those in the control group, they were comparable among the abnormal ZP groups. There were no differences in the neonatal outcomes of the different groups. Together, ZP abnormalities show various degrees of severity, and in all patients regardless of the degree of ZP abnormalities who achieve available embryos, there will be an opportunity to eventually give birth.