A nontrivial element of a group is a generalized torsion element if some products of its conjugates is the identity. The minimum number of such conjugates is called a generalized torsion order. We provide several restrictions for generalized torsion orders by using the Alexander polynomial.

In this paper, we first introduce the concept of symmetric biderivation radicals and characteristic subalgebras of Lie algebras and study their properties. Based on these results, we precisely determine biderivations of some Lie algebras including finite-dimensional simple Lie algebras over arbitrary fields of characteristic not $2$ or $3$, and the Witt algebras $\mathcal {W}^+_n$ over fields of characteristic $0$. As an application, commutative post-Lie algebra structure on the aforementioned Lie algebras is shown to be trivial.

This paper explores the reasons that divorce petitions by trafficked women in China were denied in courts in the wake of the chained woman incident. The author collected and examined divorce verdicts involving trafficked women from China Judgements Online. Among 100 unique cases, 87 were denied in their first attempts. Most of these cases were treated in the same way as regular divorce cases, with trafficking allegations either blatantly ignored or dismissed as irrelevant. The author argues that the systematic denials and ignoring of trafficking allegations is enabled by a hegemonic legal consciousness within the Circuit of Trafficking that includes not only parties directly engaged in trafficking activities, but also state actors such as the judges and legislators who prioritise “family” preservation and social stability over the rights and well-being of trafficked women. Without addressing and changing this hegemonic legal consciousness, any reform, if it should take place, would be rendered futile in practice.

Mosquitoes, particularly Aedes aegypti, pose significant public health risks by transmitting diseases like dengue, zika and chikungunya. Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (BTI) is a crucial larvicide targeting mosquitoes while sparing other organisms and the environment. This study evaluated the effects of sublethal BTI doses on Ae. aegypti larvae regarding mortality, development, adult emergence and size, using a wide-area spray application in an urban neighbourhood. Laboratory experiments with four BTI concentrations (0, 0.008, 0.02 and 0.04 ppm) assessed compensatory and over compensatory responses. The spray achieved over 90% larval mortality within 48 h, but accumulating sublethal doses could trigger compensatory and over compensatory effects, enhancing the fitness of survivors. A dose–response relationship was evident, with higher BTI concentrations leading to increased mortality, reduced longevity and fewer pupae. BTI exposure also skewed the sex ratio towards males and altered adult sizes, potentially affecting population dynamics and vectorial capacity. These findings highlight the effectiveness of BTI in Ae. aegypti control and the importance of understanding compensation, overcompensation and density-dependent effects. While wide-area BTI applications can reach inaccessible breeding sites and offer potent mosquito control, careful consideration of ecological and evolutionary consequences is crucial.

Preterm birth exposes the neonate to hypoxic-ischaemic and excitotoxic insults that impair neurodevelopment and are magnified by the premature loss of placentally supplied, inhibitory neurosteroids. The cerebellum is a neuronally dense brain region, which undergoes critical periods of development during late gestation, when preterm births frequently occur. We propose that neurosteroid replacement therapy using tiagabine and zuranolone will protect the cerebellum against preterm-associated insults. Guinea pig dams received c-section surgery preterm (gestational age (GA) 64) or at term (GA70) with preterm pups administered tiagabine (2.5 mg/kg/day), zuranolone (1 mg/kg/day) or vehicle (15% β-cyclodextrin) until term equivalent age (GA70). Behavioural testing was performed at corrected postnatal day 8 (PND8) and PND41 with tissue collection occurring at PND42. Neurodevelopmental markers (MBP, OLIG2 and NeuN) were assessed within the cerebellum by immunohistochemistry, whilst GABAergic and glutamatergic pathway expression was quantified using high throughput RT-PCR. Zuranolone and, to a lesser extent, tiagabine were able to protect against hyperactive behaviour at PND8 in males, whilst in females, a less marked hyperactive phenotype was present with neither treatment impacting behaviour further. Both treatments improved MBP staining, whilst tiagabine was found to restore oligodendrocyte maturation in females only. GABAergic and glutamatergic pathway expression was found to be restored by both treatments in females. Overall, this study demonstrates the neuroprotective attributes of neurosteroid replacement therapy using tiagabine and zuranolone, thereby demonstrating their potential to mitigate long-term neurodevelopmental impairments. Furthermore, the sexually dimorphic effects observed suggest future investigations may show increased benefit by using sex-specific treatment regimes.

We establish an effective improvement on the Liouville inequality for approximation to complex nonreal algebraic numbers by quadratic complex algebraic numbers.

How can autonomous apex courts with specific attitudes and role conceptions counter executive aggrandizement? This article theorizes two causal mechanisms through which justices can resist democratic erosion. The first mechanism involves apex courts employing judicial review to neutralize autocratic legalism by blocking strategies such as institutional conversion, replacement, and layering that executives use to expand their power. The second involves apex courts building coalitions within and beyond the judiciary, enabling diverse actors – including judges, political parties, the media, and NGOs – to leverage their unique resources against executive encroachment. I conceptualize these two mechanisms by combining theory-building process tracing with counterfactual analysis of an unlikely case of democratic resilience: Argentina from 2007 to 2015. Drawing on evidence from 125 elite interviews, over a thousand newspaper articles, hundreds of state documents, memoirs, and other primary sources, this article demonstrates how the Supreme Court nullified President Cristina Kirchner’s attempts to undermine freedom of expression and judicial independence, thereby contributing to democratic resilience.

Understanding the interactive effects of temperature and diet on insect life cycles is crucial for effective pest management. Here, the influence of different temperatures and diets on the life cycle of Conogethes punctiferalis was investigated using the age-stage, two-sex life table analysis. The results support the hypothesis that temperature and diets (maize, apple, and artificial diet) significantly influence the entire life cycle performance of C. punctiferalis. The duration of larval development was significantly prolonged, whereas adult lifespan was shortened and showed lower reproductive capacity on apple and artificial diet than maize. The total pre-oviposition period was longer on apples than on maize and artificial diet at both temperatures (20, 26°C). The highest r (0.113 d−1), λ (1.128 d−1), R0 (57.213), and GRR (75.54) of C. punctiferalis were found on maize at 26°C, while the highest T (45.062) was found on apples. Similar results were obtained in the age-specific survival curves (sxj), fecundity (mx), maternity (lxmx), and reproductive value (vxj) of YPM on different host plants when exposed to 20°C. These findings highlight the need for further research into the complex interactions between temperature, diet, and insect life history traits to develop effective pest management strategies and enhance our understanding of insect ecology in agroecosystems.

Adolescence and young adulthood are sensitive developmental periods to environmental influences. Investigating pre-emptive measures against stressors, such as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, on mental health is crucial. We aimed to synthesize evidence on pre-pandemic resilience factors shaping youth mental health outcomes during this period. For this pre-registered systematic review, we searched seven databases for longitudinal studies of youth populations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing a priori defined resilience factors at the individual, family, or community level before the pandemic. Studies required validated mental health or wellbeing measures collected both before and during the pandemic. Study quality was assessed using the corresponding NIH Quality Assessment Tool. From 4,419 unique records, 32 studies across 12 countries were included, using 46 distinct resilience measures. Due to the heterogeneity of study designs, we applied a narrative synthesis approach, finding that resilience factors were generally associated with better mental health outcomes both prior to and during the pandemic. However, most factors did not mitigate pandemic-related mental health effects. Nonetheless, family-level resilience factors emerged as promising under specific conditions. Study quality was generally fair, with concerns in resilience assessment and sampling quality. Future research should prioritize rigorous study designs and comprehensive resilience assessments.

This study conceptually replicates Cepeda, Coburn, Rohrer, Wixted, Mozer, & Pashler’s (2009, Experiment 1) study on the effects of distributed practice on second language (L2) vocabulary learning to examine its generalizability to a new context and population sample. The secondary focus of the paper is to examine the challenges and affordances of online data collection and participant recruitment sites. Both the original and our study examined the effects of distributed practice on two study sessions to learn L2 vocabulary assessed on a 10-day delayed posttest. Our results showed that the spaced conditions significantly outperformed the massed condition, mirroring the original study’s findings. However, Cepeda et al.’s (2009) participants outscored our participants by 10–20% (in each experimental group) on the posttest. While these findings highlight the benefits of spacing towards learning and memory, they also underscore the challenges researchers may face when conducting experimental research in online environments.

Sets on the boundary of a complementary component of a continuum in the plane have been of interest since the early 1920s. Curry and Mayer defined the buried points of a plane continuum to be the points in the continuum which were not on the boundary of any complementary component. Motivated by their investigations of Julia sets, they asked what happens if the set of buried points of a plane continuum is totally disconnected and nonempty. Curry, Mayer, and Tymchatyn showed that in that case the continuum is Suslinian, i.e., it does not contain an uncountable collection of nondegenerate pairwise disjoint subcontinua. In an answer to a question of Curry et al., van Mill and Tuncali constructed a plane continuum whose buried point set was totally disconnected, nonempty, and one-dimensional at each point of a countably infinite set. In this paper, we show that the van Mill–Tuncali example was the best possible in the sense that whenever the buried set is totally disconnected, it is one-dimensional at each of at most countably many points. As a corollary, we find that the buried set cannot be almost zero-dimensional unless it is zero-dimensional. We also construct locally connected van Mill–Tuncali type examples.

An element of a group is called reversible if it is conjugate to its own inverse. Reversible elements are closely related to strongly reversible elements, which can be expressed as a product of two involutions. In this paper, we classify the reversible and strongly reversible elements in the quaternionic special linear group $ \mathrm {SL}(n,\mathbb {H})$ and quaternionic projective linear group $ \mathrm {PSL}(n,\mathbb {H})$. We prove that an element of $ \mathrm {SL}(n,\mathbb {H})$ (resp. $ \mathrm {PSL}(n,\mathbb {H})$) is reversible if and only if it is a product of two skew-involutions (resp. involutions).

Millimeter wave antenna arrays are essential components of modern communication and radar systems. To produce these devices in large quantities, manufacturers require fast and reliable measurement equipment. The measurement equipment needs to ensure the quality, interoperability, and adherence to regulatory norms of the produced devices. In this work, we present an active probe array structure (PAS), which enables fast, compact, and reliable over-the-air (OTA) measurements of radiation characteristics. No relative movement between the antenna under test (AUT) and the active PAS is required, making the system very suitable for cost-effective large-scale characterization and commercial production test scenarios. We demonstrate and discuss how a near-field (NF) OTA measurement performed by this active PAS system can be used to reconstruct the far-field (FF) antenna radiation behavior of AUTs using an NF to FF correlation approach.

Widely regarded as the most prestigious art exhibition in the world, the Venice Biennale combines art history, politics, and cultural power in a dizzying spectacle. The 2024 exhibition, “Foreigners Everywhere,” situates performance as a key medium in contemporary art and art history.

The radish fly, Delia planipalpis Linnaeus (Diptera: Anthomyiidae), is an emerging pest of broccoli and brassicaceous crops (Brassicaceae). The fly oviposits close to the stem of broccoli plants, and larvae feed within the stem and then pupate in the soil. Due to D. planipalpis’s recent appearance as a pest, no insecticides are registered for its management in Mexico. This study evaluated the efficacy of 13 synthetic and biological insecticides against different developmental stages through laboratory bioassays. Neonicotinoid-based products were highly toxic to the larvae, especially when applied via root irrigation, with thiamethoxam, clothianidin, and imidacloprid showing systemic activity. Thiamethoxam- and spinetoram-based products were also effective when applied to the stem oviposition site as a spray. A clothianidin-based product demonstrated moderate ovicidal activity, and bifenthrin had moderate residual activity against adult flies. A pyriproxyfen-based product effectively suppressed adult emergence. Products based on spirotetramat, neem (Meliaceae), and Tagetes (marigold) (Asteraceae) extracts and the microbial insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bacillaceae) were ineffective against this pest. Spinosad and Sterneinema feltiae (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) were not highly effective but could be used together with other control strategies in organic production. Neonicotinoids, spinetoram, and pyriproxyfen are promising options to validate in field trials for the management of D. planipalpis in broccoli.

Post-harvest treatments are very critical in accepting the exported dates. However, stored dates are attacked by a wide range of stored pests causing serious damage to yield. Therefore, this study investigated the efficacy of treating stored dates variety Siwi with vapour heat on almond moth Ephestia cautella (Walker), the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella (Hübner), the saw-toothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis Linnaeus, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), and the drugstore beetle Stegobium paniceum (L.) of stored dates. Additionally, the effects of vapour heat on the quality and microbial load of treated dates were examined. The tested insects were infested and randomly distributed to eight positions inside a vapour heat chamber at 46.5°C and 95% relative humidity for 30 min. The results showed that a 120 cm height from the vapour heat source led 100% mortality in all tested insects. Furthermore, the treatment of vapour heat had a great efficacy to eliminate infestations. Meanwhile, the vapour heat treatment slightly reduced the microbial load of stored dates, and non-significantly (P ≤ 0.05) affected the chemical and physical characteristics of the stored dates. Therefore, vapour heat is a safe and environmentally friendly insect pest control alternative for exported dates.