Definable stationary sets, and specifically, ordinal definable ones, play a significant role in the study of canonical inner models of set theory and the class HOD of hereditarily ordinal definable sets. Fixing a certain notion of definability and an uncountable cardinal, one can consider the associated family of definable closed unbounded sets. In this paper, we study the extent to which such families can approximate the full closed unbounded filter and their dependence on the defining complexity. Focusing on closed unbounded subsets of a cardinal $\kappa $ which are $\Sigma _1$-definable in parameters from H${}_\kappa $ and ordinal parameters, we show that the ability of such closed unbounded sets to well approximate the closed unbounded filter on $\kappa $ can highly vary and strongly depends on key properties of the underlying universe of set theory.

We prove an exact control theorem, in the sense of Hida theory, for the ordinary part of the middle degree étale cohomology of certain Hilbert modular varieties, after localizing at a suitable maximal ideal of the Hecke algebra. Our method of proof builds upon the techniques introduced by Loeffler–Rockwood–Zerbes (2023, Spherical varieties and p-adic families of cohomology classes); another important ingredient in our proof is the recent work of Caraiani–Tamiozzo (2023, Compositio Mathematica 159, 2279–2325) on the vanishing of the étale cohomology of Hilbert modular varieties with torsion coefficients outside the middle degree. This work will be used in forthcoming work of the author to show that the Asai–Flach Euler system corresponding to a quadratic Hilbert modular form varies in Hida families.

Global health security in the Biden-Harris Administration has been a dynamic area of engagement, starting with the COVID-19 response, to strengthening and reforming the World Health Organization, to bolstering regional partnerships, and securing financing for pandemic preparedness. Sustained commitment to bilateral, regional, and multilateral cooperation will ensure that the United States stands ready to address any future health challenges.

Fulgurites are natural glasses that form when lightning strikes sand, soil, or rock and fuses the individual grains together to generate what is usually a tubular structure that follows the path of the strike. During this process, localised reducing conditions are conducive to forming rare minerals including iron silicides. This paper examines a fulgurite formed in Southwick, Massachusetts, USA, which displays an iron silicide that has a clearly defined reaction rim. The reaction rim demonstrates the production of a more silicon-rich rind consisting of Fe5Si3 on a core of Fe2Si, and the most likely route to forming this material is by reaction of silicon gas with Fe2Si at high temperature (>1000°C), with a reaction timescale of about one second. This reaction suggests the high temperature, reducing conditions of a lightning strike favour reactions of condensed matter (e.g. liquid or solid iron minerals) with gas that occurs rapidly during the lightning strike. The conditions necessary to form these minerals suggest that the fulgurite became more reducing over time, as more Si entered the solid phase, perhaps as oxygen left the system, either as CO2 or from the breakdown of SiO2 gas.

There is growing attention to the role of organized labor in maintaining and expanding democratic institutions in the United States. In this article, we investigate the effect of right-to-work laws on electoral democracy in the states. We theorize a series of mechanisms by which labor unions contribute to the maintenance and expansion of democratic institutions, including contributing money to campaigns and influencing the electorate. Right-to-work laws, by limiting labor unions’ ability to raise funds, reduce the strength of these mechanisms and send signals to political elites about the organizational balance of power in their states. Using recent advances in difference-in-differences analysis, we find that right-to-work laws had a substantial negative effect on state-level electoral democracy in recent decades, even net of Republican control of government. Although the difficulty of causal identification in this context warrants caution, the findings speak to the importance of organized labor in shaping democratic institutions.

Social anxiety and depression exacerbate in early adolescence. Maladaptive self-referential processing confers risk for both conditions and can be assessed by the Self-Referent Encoding Task (SRET). Our cross-sectional findings indicated that the SRET-elicited anterior late positive potential (LPP) was uniquely associated with social anxiety symptoms, whereas behavioral SRET scores were uniquely associated with depressive symptoms. Expanding this work, this study investigated whether the SRET-generated behavioral and LPP indices differentially predicted changes of social anxiety or depressive symptoms over time. At baseline, 115 community-dwelling youths (66 girls; Mean age/SD = 11.00/1.16 years) completed an SRET with EEG. Youths reported social anxiety and depressive symptoms at baseline and ∼six and ∼ 12 months later, based on which the intercept and slope of symptoms were estimated as a function of time. A larger anterior LPP in the negative SRET condition uniquely predicted a larger slope (faster increase) of social anxiety (but not depressive) symptoms. Greater positive behavioral SRET scores marginally predicted a smaller slope (slower increase) of depressive (but not social anxiety) symptoms. We provided novel evidence concerning the differential, prospective associations between self-referential processing and changes of social anxiety and depressive symptoms in early adolescence.

The GABA type A receptor (GABAAR) belongs to the family of pentameric ligand-gated ion channels and plays a key role in inhibition in adult mammalian brains. Dysfunction of this macromolecule may lead to epilepsy, anxiety disorders, autism, depression, and schizophrenia. GABAAR is also a target for multiple physiologically and clinically relevant modulators, such as benzodiazepines (BDZs), general anesthetics, and neurosteroids. The first GABAAR structure appeared in 2014, but the past years have brought a particularly abundant surge in structural data for these receptors with various ligands and modulators. Although the open conformation remains elusive, this novel information has pushed the structure–function studies to an unprecedented level. Electrophysiology, mutagenesis, photolabeling, and in silico simulations, guided by novel structural information, shed new light on the molecular mechanisms of receptor functioning. The main goal of this review is to present the current knowledge of GABAAR functional and structural properties. The review begins with an outline of the functional and structural studies of GABAAR, accompanied by some methodological considerations, especially biophysical methods, enabling the reader to follow how major breakthroughs in characterizing GABAAR features have been achieved. The main section provides a comprehensive analysis of the functional significance of specific structural elements in GABAARs. We additionally summarize the current knowledge on the binding sites for major GABAAR modulators, referring to the molecular underpinnings of their action. The final chapter of the review moves beyond examining GABAAR as an isolated macromolecule and describes the interactions of the receptor with other proteins in a broader context of inhibitory plasticity. In the final section, we propose a general conclusion that agonist binding to the orthosteric binding sites appears to rely on local interactions, whereas conformational transitions of bound macromolecule (gating) and allosteric modulation seem to reflect more global phenomena involving vast portions of the macromolecule.

The ‘Viroporin’ family comprises a number of mostly small-sized, integral membrane proteins encoded by animal and plant viruses. Despite their sequence and structural diversity, viroporins share a common functional trend: their capacity to assemble transmembrane channels during the replication cycle of the virus. Their selectivity spectrum ranges from low-pH-activated, unidirectional proton transporters, to size-limited permeating pores allowing passive diffusion of metabolites. Through mechanisms not fully understood, expression of viroporins facilitates virion assembly/release from infected cells, and subverts the cell physiology, contributing to cytopathogenicity. Compounds that interact with viroporins and interfere with their membrane-permeabilizing activity in vitro, are known to inhibit virus production. Moreover, viroporin-defective viruses comprise a source of live attenuated vaccines that prevent infection by notorious human and livestock pathogens. This review dives into the origin and evolution of the viroporin concept, summarizes some of the methodologies used to characterize the structure–function relationships of these important virulence factors, and attempts to classify them on biophysical grounds attending to their mechanisms of ion/solute transport across membranes.

Let R be a ring and let $n\ge 2$. We discuss the question of whether every element in the matrix ring $M_n(R)$ is a product of (additive) commutators $[x,y]=xy-yx$, for $x,y\in M_n(R)$. An example showing that this does not always hold, even when R is commutative, is provided. If, however, R has Bass stable rank one, then under various additional conditions every element in $M_n(R)$ is a product of three commutators. Further, if R is a division ring with infinite center, then every element in $M_n(R)$ is a product of two commutators. If R is a field and $a\in M_n(R)$, then every element in $M_n(R)$ is a sum of elements of the form $[a,x][a,y]$ with $x,y\in M_n(R)$ if and only if the degree of the minimal polynomial of a is greater than $2$.

This investigation investigates geologically old, ca. 370 Ma, metamict zirconolite from the Kovdor phoscorites and carbonatites in the Kola Alkaline Province. Mineral composition, crystallisation behaviour, and thermal expansion of the recrystallised samples were analysed using electron microprobe analysis, Raman spectroscopy, and in situ high-temperature powder X-ray diffraction (HTPXRD). The zirconolite crystals investigated are different in their morphology, internal texture, composition, alteration degree, and can be divided into four distinct groups. The zirconolite is a high Nb and Fe3+ variety (10.8–24.1 wt.% Nb2O5 and 7.9–9.0 wt.% Fe2O3), it is enriched in Th (up to 8.7 wt.% ThO2), Ta (up to 5.3 wt.% Ta2O5) and rare earth elements (up to 5.0 wt.% REE2O3). Raman spectroscopy confirmed that metamict zirconolite is anhydrous.

The recrystallisation process of the metamict zirconolite is complex, as detected by HTPXRD. A fluorite-type phase starts to crystallise at 420°C. The formation of a pyrochlore phase can be identified at 750°C. The major phases detected in the sample after the recrystallisation are: zirconolite-3T (53 wt.%), srilankite (25 wt.%), pyrochlore (15 wt.%), baddeleyite (5 wt.%) and zircon (3 wt.%). The average coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) values in the temperature range 25–1200°C are as follows: ${{\bar \alpha }}$a = ${{\bar \alpha }}$b = ${{\bar \alpha }}$11 = ${{\bar \alpha }}$22 = 8.95·10–6 deg–1. Similarly, the thermal expansion along the c-axis yields a similar value: ${{\bar \alpha }}$a = ${{\bar \alpha }}$b = 8.93·10–6 deg–1, indicating an almost isotropic thermal expansion of zirconolite-3T. The lower CTE value compared to a pure synthetic zirconolite observed for zirconolite-3T might be attributed to the complex chemistry and polyphase nature of the material investigated.

A paleomagnetic study of basaltic lava flows exposed in the northern Neuquén Cordillera, southernmost Central Andes, along the Antiñir-Copahue fault zone (ACFZ), involved 25 sites of the Cola de Zorro Formation (Pliocene–Early Pleistocene) along two different sections. The sites show exclusive normal polarity, corresponding to the Late Pliocene Gauss chron (3.6–2.6 Ma). The angular standard deviation of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs; ASD = 14.8°) is consistent with the expected values from recent geomagnetic models, in opposition to anomalously low dispersion found in previous studies in Pleistocene VGPs of reverse polarity from neighboring areas to our study zone. Mean paleomagnetic directions for Bella Vista (Dec = 0.0°, Inc = −50.0°, α₉₅ = 7.6°, K = 36.7, N = 11) and Río Huaraco sections (Dec = 354.9°, Inc = −57.0°, α₉₅ = 7.5°, K = 55.7, N = 8) do not show tectonic rotation around vertical axes. Combining and regrouping our and previous data by area confirmed the absence of tectonic rotations in the Huaraco-Trohunco block and a statistically significant clockwise rotation of 14.4° ± 10.3° of three adjacent tectonic blocks located south of our study locality in Pleistocene times. These results suggest that strike-slip deformation along some sections of the ACFZ was significant in the Pleistocene structural evolution of this region.

The nineteenth century was an era of rapid urban growth, increasing temporal awareness, and a rising demand for precision. Time measurement and display became particularly important in this context, not just for scientific or military purposes, but also for administrations, businesses and for the general public. There was, however, one significant problem: making all the public clocks show the same and correct time, which led to the development of urban temporal infrastructures as symbols of urban modernity and a source of civic pride. This article presents an account of the origins of two temporal infrastructures in Paris, focusing particularly on the electrical network devised by the scientists of the Paris Observatory.

Let be a commutative ring containing a primitive $l'$th root $\varepsilon $ of $1$. The infinitesimal q-Schur algebras over form an ascending chain of subalgebras of the q-Schur algebra , which are useful in studying representations of the Frobenius kernel of the associated quantum linear group. Let be the quantized enveloping algebra of $\mathfrak {gl}_n$ over . There is a natural surjective algebra homomorphism $\zeta _{d}$ from to . The map $\zeta _{d}$ restricts to a surjective algebra homomorphism $\zeta _{d,r}$ from to , where is a certain Hopf subalgebra of , which is closely related to Frobenius–Lusztig kernels of . We give the extra defining relations needed to define the infinitesimal q-Schur algebra as a quotient of . The map $\zeta _{d,r}$ induces a surjective algebra homomorphism , where is the modified quantum algebra associated with . We also give a generating set for the kernel of $\dot {\zeta }_{d,r}$. These results can be used to give a classification of irreducible -modules over a field of characteristic p.

This article documents and reflects on gender-based Contextual Bible Study (CBS) work on 2 Samuel 13:1–22 over more than thirty-five years, much of it shaped by work with Anglican communities. CBS work on the story of the abuse of Tamar provides a shape to the article, beginning with the identification of the Church by women survivors of violence as the silencer of Tamar, then of the Church as the abuser of Tamar, then of the Church as the excluder of Tamar in its lectionaries and liturgies and then of the Church as abandoning Tamar with impunity. The article summons the Church, though a CBS on 2 Samuel 13:21, to hear the summons of Tamar to change.

The past half-century has been a treasure trove for those fascinated by historical instances of moral panic, conspiracy theories and the enigmatic world of secretive satanic cults. The wealth of examples, ranging from the peculiar to the outright cruel, offers a captivating journey through the evolution of societal fears and beliefs. It is something of an irony that in the increasingly post-religious Developed World, the void has been filled with a multiplicity of speculative spiritualties, quasi-faith-based therapies, mystical curiosity and fascination with the paranormal. Little of the value ascribed to such a zeitgeist is evidence-based. Nor does it need to be. In a world of ‘alternative facts’ that has also steadily habituated the public into post-truth political discourse, evidence and veracity are not what they used to be.