The RNCP/NIAID recommends the creation of a North American Biodosimetry Assessment Networking Group (BANG) by developing a blueprint for integrating the relevant national capabilities to provide emergency biodosimetry assistance in civilian populations following a radiological or nuclear incident. The goals of BANG are to: 1) establish a collaborative network (public/private partnership) and engage its membership to address emergency preparedness, response, and recovery, 2) promote strategic relationships between network members to encourage resource sharing, 3) engage with stakeholders to utilize recommended tools and support training exercises, and 4) advance bioinformatics and machine learning approaches to integrate and utilize the network data for managing emergency situations.

To be adequately prepared for large-scale radiological or nuclear incidents, a coordinated network among well-trained, commercial, hospital, and/or academic laboratories is a critical factor for providing rapid exposure assessments. Interactive and productive collaborations between North American laboratories will improve the capabilities of the network by offering a wider range of complementary biological and physical techniques. BANG would connect community service providers with various biodosimetry capabilities, and enable members to discuss best practices, common goals, emergency planning/ training, and sharing of resources, to increase the nation’s resiliency before, during, and after a radiological public health emergency.

This paper presents a wideband dual-polarized microstrip patch antenna with a dual-layer design to meet the requirements of high isolation for in-band full-duplex (IBFD) communication systems. The antenna improves upon the traditional square patch with four Γ-shaped probe-fed by ingeniously extending the metal strips of the Γ-shaped probes to form a cross-shaped structure, thereby exciting multiple independently tunable resonant modes. A circular ring slot is etched at the feed point to optimize the antenna impedance matching. Finally, a middle-layer circular patch is added to optimize the high-frequency impedance matching without changing the profile. By combining differential feeding technology, the antenna maintains a low-profile characteristic of 0.086λL (where λL denotes the free-space wavelength at the lowest operating frequency) while achieving dual-polarized operation and high port isolation (≥42 dB), along with an impedance bandwidth of 71.5% (4.06–8.58 GHz) that surpasses most existing designs. The measured antenna realized peak gain is 8.2 dBi, with cross-polarization suppression ≤−20 dB and stable radiation pattern characteristics across the operating frequency band. This design provides a compact antenna solution with high isolation, broadband, dual polarization, and low cost for IBFD applications.

The quarantine pest, Opisina arenosella Walker, poses a significant threat to 34 palm plant species, including economically vital coconut trees. Its adaptability and rapid spread raise concerns about global tree invasion and potential economic and environmental impacts. Utilising advanced sequencing technology, this study aims to analyse O. arenosella mitochondrial genome, comparing it with three Lepidoptera families to explore its phylogenetic status. The complete mitochondrial genome (15,389 bp) was sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq platform, with tRNA genes validated using tRNAScan-SE and MITOS WebServer. Comparative analysis involved 13 protein-coding genes and 2 ribosomal RNA genes, comparing them with outgroup species like Agapanthia amurensis. The results revealed that O. arenosella genome’s nucleotide composition is 39.24% A, 41.33% T, 12.02% C, and 7.41% G. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. Interestingly, in the BI analysis, (O. arenosella + Ripeacma umbellate) clustered together with ((Promalactis suzukiella + Promalactis odaiensis) + (Stathmopoda auriferella + Casmara patrona)), forming a clade with high node support, while ML lacked high node support. Additionally, both methods indicated a monophyletic clade with high node support for Comparmustilia, Oberthueria, Pseudandraca, and Andraca. This research provides valuable mitochondrial genome data, contributing to phylogenetics and taxonomy studies, establishing a foundation for future research in this field.

Most theories of sentence structure acknowledge predicates, yet what one understands a predicate to be can vary significantly from one theory to the next, and from one grammarian to the next. This article surveys how the predicate notion is understood in semantics, syntax, and grammar studies quite generally. It scrutinizes the various predicate concepts, and then argues in favor of one particular understanding of predicates in syntax, one that is especially congruent with a dependency grammar (DG) approach to sentence structures. Predicates are catenae, the catena being a concrete unit of syntactic analysis. The catena-based approach to predicates is motivated in three areas: in terms of the synthetic vs. analytic realizations of meaning, in terms of entailment patterns, and in terms of pronoun resolution. The catena-based approach makes insightful generalizations in these areas possible.

Greater consumption of red meat has been linked to a higher risk of mortality and chronic diseases, including diabetes. We aim to examine the associations between total, processed and unprocessed red meat intake and diabetes and to evaluate the substitution effects of other protein sources for red meat on diabetes. This population-based cross-sectional study utilised data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2016. Diabetes was defined as a self-reported diagnosis by a physician or other health professional, having a fasting plasma glucose of 126 mg/dl or higher, an HbA1c level of 6·5 % or higher, or the use of antidiabetic drugs. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted. The study included 34 737 adult participants (mean (sd) age of 45·8 (17·5) years) from NHANES 2003–2016. After adjusting for major confounders, compared with the first quintile, higher intakes of total, processed and unprocessed red meat were positively associated with higher odds of diabetes, with adjusted OR of 1·49 (95 % CI 1·22, 1·81), 1·47 (95 % CI 1·17, 1·84) and 1·24 (95 % CI 1·06, 1·44), respectively. The corresponding P-trend values were (< 0.001, 0.001, and 0.006). In this nationally representative sample of US adults, participants in the highest quintiles of total, processed and unprocessed red meat intake had higher odds of diabetes than those in the lowest quintile. Substituting 1 serving/d of dietary protein from foods of plant origin (including nuts, seeds, legumes and soya) for total, processed or unprocessed red meat was associated with 9 % to 14 % lower odds of diabetes.

Assessing the size of twins at birth using charts developed for singletons may over diagnose small for gestational age in this sub-population. The study aimed to produce international, twin-specific, newborn size normative charts by gestational age and sex. This longitudinal observational study in eight geographically diverse settings prospectively collected data between May 2009 and August 2013 from healthy pregnant women and their newborn twins. The participants were enrolled as part of the INTERGROWTH-21st study, and recruited based on World Health Organization recommendations for evaluation of anthropometric measures. All the women met, in addition to the underlying population characteristics of low perinatal risk, strict individual criteria for a population at low risk of impaired fetal growth. Newborn weight, length and head circumference measures were collected independently in duplicate by two trained anthropometrists within 12 hours of birth using identical equipment and protocols at all sites. From 1034 multiple pregnancies, after exclusions of condition such as smoking, high maternal BMI, and congenital malformations, the final sample was 864 twin newborns. Most of the twins were below the 50th centile of the INTERGROWTH-21st standards for singletons. We present international newborn size normative charts for twins using the same methodological approach adopted to construct the singleton standards.

Limited evidence exists on the combined effects of lifestyle factors on breast cancer (BC) risk, particularly in developing countries. This study aimed to investigate the association between adherence to the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) cancer prevention recommendations and BC risk among Moroccan women. We conducted a large case–control study including 1,400 cases and 1,400 matched controls (by age and place of residence) between 2019 and 2023. A structured general questionnaire and a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire were used for data collection. Adherence to cancer prevention recommendations was assessed using a score ranging from 0 to 7, comprising seven components covering dietary patterns, physical activity, healthy weight, and breastfeeding. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate OR and 95 % CI, accounting for potential confounding variables. For each one-point increase in the WCRF/AICR adherence score, the odds of BC decreased by 67 % overall (OR = 0·33; 95 % CI: 0·29–0·37). This inverse association was consistent among both premenopausal women (OR = 0·29; 95 % CI: 0·24–0·35) and postmenopausal women (OR = 0·35; 95 % CI: 0·30–0·41). Analysis of individual recommendations indicated that physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, breastfeeding, consuming a plant-rich diet, and limiting the intake of fast and other processed foods were the main drivers of the observed inverse association with BC. In conclusion, greater adherence to the WCRF/AICR recommendations is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer in Morocco. Prevention strategies should incorporate comprehensive interventions targeting multiple lifestyle factors.

Native American worldviews suggest that humans create the world through story; storytelling is central in oral societies. Storytelling was embodied in artworks made at and disseminated from Cahokia, and it was also embodied in the landscape. Cosmological, goddess, and hero stories were told, but heroes depicted in Braden-style artworks found far from Cahokia suggest that the story of a Birdman wearing human-head earrings and braid was a charter myth at Cahokia. As the foundation of ideology and ritual, stories drew people to Cahokia, but the heroic epic was a new type of story critical to the spread of Cahokian ideologies.

This paper studies the price-setting behaviour in food products, using the microdata underlying the Portuguese Consumer Price Index (CPI). We document that, in each month, about 1 in 4 food items changed prices compared to the previous month, including promotions and sales. If these temporary price changes are excluded, the frequency drops to 1 out of 5, on average. Positive price changes were more frequent but had lower magnitudes than negative ones. There were strong heterogeneities in price-setting not only across products but also across industries and outlets. We find that, from 2009 to 2019, food inflation was primarily driven by the relative frequency of positive versus negative price changes, rather than changes in their size, consistent with standard New Keynesian calibrations of price rigidity. Finally, we report that price changes were more frequent at the producer than at the consumer level, but with a lower magnitude. Taken together, these results highlight that the frequency margin is the key driver of inflation dynamics and provide micro evidence supporting widely used macroeconomic calibrations of price rigidity.

Grip strength is a simple and practical method for evaluating overall muscle strength and a key health biomarker that is linked to sarcopenia, chronic conditions and overall mortality. Although protein intake plays a vital role in muscle protein synthesis, its association with grip strength in adults remains unclear. This study examined the cross-sectional relationship between total, animal and plant protein intake and grip strength among local government workers in Japan. Participants were 349 workers (175 men and 174 women; mean age, 42·9 years; range, 19–71 years) who received a health check-up and participated in a nutrition and health survey. Protein intake was assessed using a validated self-administered diet history questionnaire. Grip strength was measured with a digital dynamometer. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to estimate adjusted means of grip strength according to the tertile of protein intake. Higher animal protein intake was significantly associated with higher grip strength in women, but not in men. After adjustment for covariates including lifestyle and dietary factors, mean (95 % CI) grip strength for the lowest through highest tertile of animal protein intake was 24·6 (21·7, 27·5) kg, 25·8 (22·9, 28·7) kg and 26·8 (23·7, 29·9) kg (Pfor trend = 0·015) in women. No association was found between total and plant protein intake and grip strength in either men or women. These findings suggest that animal protein is important for muscle strength in women, with potential sex differences in the relationship between protein intake and grip strength.

Samuel Lebens argues that we may understand God’s act of creation by analogy with an author’s creation of fictional characters. I argue that, in the relevant sense of ‘fictional characters’, authors do not create such beings; rather, they invite us to imagine that such beings exist. I also argue that Lebens’s view would make authorship morally problematic in implausible ways. Along the way I briefly offer an account of the being of fictional characters and consider the relations between truth-in-fiction and truth.

This article examines the poetry of Raïssa Maritain as a distinctive form of theodicy shaped by prayer, suffering, and the catastrophic violence of the twentieth century. Situating Maritain’s poetic work within the context of debates on suffering, this article places her in dialogue with Johann Baptist Metz’s concept of Leiden an Gott (‘suffering unto God’), as well as with the challenges to theodicy articulated by Elie Wiesel and Emmanuel Levinas. While Wiesel’s refusal of theology after Auschwitz and Levinas’s ethical critique of teleological accounts of suffering underscore the crisis of theodicy, Metz offers a theological response that centres on prayer as anguished address to God rather than rational explanation. I argue that Maritain’s poetry anticipates, embodies and extends this insight by functioning as a form of poetic prayer that confronts evil without aestheticising or prematurely redeeming suffering. Through close engagement with poems written before and during the Second World War, I show how Maritain’s poetic language gives voice to accusation, lament, and solidarity with the suffering other, while nonetheless holding open the possibility of redemption. In doing so, her work offers a humane poetic theodicy that both complements and critically deepens Metz’s political theology.

This article examines the emigration of impoverished Azoreans and Madeirans to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and the British West Indies (BWI), especially British Guiana, in the nineteenth century, driven by the demand for labour following the prohibition of the slave trade in Brazil and emancipation in the BWI. It explores the shared causes of these migratory flows, migrants’ living and working conditions, and the efforts of Portuguese authorities to distinguish their labourers from other colonized peoples. Drawing on Brazilian and Portuguese archives, as well as secondary sources on the Portuguese in the British West Indies, this transnational study situates Portuguese islanders within the broader labour experiments of the nineteenth century.

Eudaimonism is a richly complex ethical tradition. To distinguish eudaimonism from other ethical approaches and to demonstrate the diversity of eudaimonistic accounts, I outline five key distinctions: (i) form vs. content, (ii) weak vs. strong eudaimonism, (iii) perfectionism vs. non-perfectionism, (iv) intellectualism vs. materialism, and (v) dogmatism vs. non-dogmatism. This analysis escapes the traditional focus on eudaimonism through a predominantly Aristotelian lens. It also offers a rich conceptual framework for understanding the historical development of eudaimonism and the dialogue between ancient, early modern, and modern eudaimonists.

A recently discovered site in southern Mississippi considered early Arikareean based on identified mammals represents the first of this age from the Gulf Coastal Plain outside of Florida. The Jones Branch Local Fauna was recovered from deltaic/estuarine deposits low in the Catahoula Formation resting unconformably on marl/clay beds of the subjacent, upper Rupelian (lower Oligocene), marine Paynes Hammock Formation. In addition to well-preserved plant material plus reptiles, amphibians, and fishes, the mammals are represented primarily by species previously known almost exclusively from the Great Plains, the northern Rocky Mountains (Montana), and/or John Day region, Oregon, with only a few apparently endemic to the Gulf Coastal Plain. Genera representative of the former include the proscalopid Mesoscalops, the sciurid Hesperopetes, the aplodontiid Downsimus, the putative early castoroid Eutypomys, the castorid Microtheriomys, the eomyids Apeomys and Leptodontomys, the florentiamyid Kirkomys, the mustelids Corumictis and Promartes, the tapir Protapirus, the leptochoerid Leptochoerus, the anthracothere Elomeryx, and the hornless ruminants Hypertragulus and ?Leptomeryx. Mesoscalops, Downsimus, and Apeomys are represented by new species. Additionally, a new genus and species of lagomorph is described, Oligolagus welleri, as is a new genus and new species of eomyid, Paraktioeomys palmeri. Known from both regions is the marsupial Herpetotherium, an apatemyid provisionally referred to Sinclairella, and the borophagine Phlaocyon. Gulf Coastal Plain endemics include the protoceratid Prosynthetoceras orthrionanus and apparently Oligolagus n. gen. and Paraktioeomys n. gen. The geographically broadly distributed horse Miohippus, rhinoceros Diceratherium, and giant entelodont Daeodon are also present. Marine mammals are represented by the dugong Crenatosiren olseni and the odontocete Agorophius pygmaeus. Additionally noted are two taxa from stratigraphically lower formations that are not part of the Jones Branch LF. These include a large species of the entelodont Archaeotherium and the anthracothere Elomeryx armatus, both of which were previously unknown along the Gulf Coastal Plain. The long recognized biotic disparity between the Midcontinent and Gulf Coastal Plain by the early Miocene was not yet strongly apparent during the early to middle Oligocene.

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