Traditional bulky and complex control devices such as remote control and ground station cannot meet the requirement of fast and flexible control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in complex environments. Therefore, a data glove based on multi-sensor fusion is designed in this paper. In order to achieve the goal of gesture control of UAVs, the method can accurately recognize various gestures and convert them into corresponding UAV control commands. First, the wireless data glove fuses flexible fiber optic sensors and inertial sensors to construct a gesture dataset. Then, the trained neural network model is deployed to the STM32 microcontroller-based data glove for real-time gesture recognition, in which the convolutional neural network-Attention mechanism (CNN-Attention) network is used for static gesture recognition, and the convolutional neural network-bidirectional long and short-term memory (CNN-Bi-LSTM) network is used for dynamic gesture recognition. Finally, the gestures are converted into control commands and sent to the vehicle terminal to control the UAV. Through the UAV simulation test on the simulation platform, the average recognition accuracy of 32 static gestures reaches 99.7%, and the average recognition accuracy of 13 dynamic gestures reaches 99.9%, which indicates that the system’s gesture recognition effect is perfect. The task test in the scene constructed in the real environment shows that the UAV can respond to the gestures quickly, and the method proposed in this paper can realize the real-time stable control of the UAV on the terminal side.

This dialogue between Prof Claire Colebrook (Pennsylvania State University) and Asijit Datta is based on an online discussion, “Ecology, Extinction, and Posthumanism” which took place on the 1st of August, 2020 during the raging days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The transcript echoes Colebrook’s sentiments that the ethical demands of the climate hazard or the imminent extinction cannot be addressed to a particular subject or ‘we’. The predominant tension is concealed in the idea of the human and its values. As humans, we refuse to ask whether there is a future where life continues with endless possibilities for us. For Colebrook, the inability to adopt such a stance emerges from the historical condition that we as language-beings have always been the ones to define life, the ones that are essentially racing towards extinction. Following the extinction experiments of Husserl and Bergson, Colebrook contends that only the death of the ethical and political subject can provide us with alternate modes of survival in this world. This conversation engages with issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, American politics, and post-apocalyptic cinema to arrive at an imagination that requires the annihilation of the human as we know it.

Examining group boundaries is instrumental to understanding intergroup relations, particularly differences in boundary drawing between prototypical and peripheral group members. Whether identity strength and prototypicality have an interactive effect on how group members draw boundaries has been underexplored. We also know less about how different Latinos are viewed, despite the group’s vast diversity. This paper takes up these questions and compares white and Black Americans’ views of Latinos as American. Strikingly, among all respondents, U.S. born Latinos are seen as less American when their parent is undocumented. The results suggest that Black Americans are driven by economic and political concerns and perceive greater commonality with more marginalized Latinos. Whites are driven by cultural concerns and prefer those who will not challenge their prototypicality. This illustrates a divergence in how Latinos are received among each group.

For an arbitrary ring A, we study the abelianization of the elementary group $\mathit{{\rm E}}_2(A)$. In particular, we show that for a commutative ring A there exists an exact sequence

\begin{equation*}{\rm K}_2(2,A)/{\rm C}(2,A) \rightarrow A/M \rightarrow \mathit{{\rm E}}_2(A)^{\rm ab} \rightarrow 1,\end{equation*}

where ${\rm C}(2,A)$ is the central subgroup of the Steinberg group $\mathit{{\rm St}}(2,A)$ generated by the Steinberg symbols and M is the additive subgroup of A generated by $x(a^2-1)$ and $3(b+1)(c+1)$, with $x\in A, a,b,c \in {A^\times}$.

We prove a general convergence result for zeta functions of prehomogeneous vector spaces extending results of H. Saito, F. Sato and Yukie. Our analysis points to certain subspaces which yield boundary terms. We study it further in the setup arising from nilpotent orbits. In certain cases we determine the residue at the rightmost pole of the zeta function.

During 2021 through 2023, the golden mussel Limnoperna fortunei and freshwater fishes were sampled from 28 sites in the Tone River system, Japan, and adult trematodes of Dollfustrema were found in the fishes. Molecular and morphological analyses based on 28S rDNA and the ITS1−5.8S−ITS2 region revealed the trematode as ‘Dollfustrema hefeiense’, previously reported in Mainland China and likely introduced to Japan. Given that its scientific name was considered invalid, we re-described the species as Dollfustrema invadens n. sp. Additionally, the DNA-based survey helped clarify the trematode’s life cycle in the river system. A sporocyst and metacercariae were detected in the golden mussel’s visceral mass and in the muscles of two small freshwater fish species, respectively. The channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus harboured mature trematodes in its intestine, and adult trematodes were also found in the muscles of fishes infected with metacercariae, suggesting direct metacercariae development in fish muscle. Furthermore, another introduced bucephalid trematode, Prosorhynchoides ozakii, previously reported in the river system, was detected in the mussels and fishes. Moreover, co-infection of both bucephalid trematodes was observed in certain fishes.

We construct families of non-toric ${\mathbb {Q}}$-factorial terminal Fano (${\mathbb {Q}}$-Fano) threefolds of codimension $\geq 20$ corresponding to 54 mutation classes of rigid maximally mutable Laurent polynomials. From the point of view of mirror symmetry, they are the highest codimension (non-toric) ${\mathbb {Q}}$-Fano varieties for which we can currently establish the Fano/Landau–Ginzburg correspondence. We construct 46 additional ${\mathbb {Q}}$-Fano threefolds with codimensions of new examples ranging between 19 and 5. Some of these varieties are presented as toric complete intersections, and others as Pfaffian varieties.

This paper further studies the matroid realization space of a specific deformation of the regular n-gon with its lines of symmetry. Recently, we obtained that these particular realization spaces are birational to the elliptic modular surfaces $\Xi _{1}(n)$ over the modular curve $X_1(n)$. Here, we focus on the peculiar cases when $n=7,8$ in more detail. We obtain concrete quartic surfaces in $\mathbb {P}^3$ equipped with a dominant rational self-map stemming from an operator on line arrangements, which yields K3 surfaces with a dynamical system that is semi-conjugated to the plane.

Information on social media is characterized by networked curation processes in which users select other users from whom to receive information, and those users in turn share information that promotes their identities and interests. We argue this allows for partisan “curation bubbles” of users who share and consume content with consistent appeal drawn from a variety of sources. Yet, research concerning the extent of filter bubbles, echo chambers, or other forms of politically segregated information consumption typically conceptualizes information’s partisan valence at the source level as opposed to the story level. This can lead domain-level measures of audience partisanship to mischaracterize the partisan appeal of sources’ constituent stories—especially for sources estimated to be more moderate. Accounting for networked curation aligns theory and measurement of political information consumption on social media.

Authoritarian states are intensifying bloc-building efforts. While the authoritarian regionalism literature suggests that membership in these “clubs of autocrats” can bolster domestic support for authoritarian leaders, such external recognition can also pose challenges, especially when aligning with “toxic” authoritarian partners. We argue that authoritarian regimes attempt to solve this problem by crafting strategic narratives and communicating them through regime-loyal media to the general public. The study examines strategic narratives of bloc building used by Russia and China in the first year after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine in 2022. Using “text-as-data” methods and qualitative analysis, we find important similarities and differences in the narratives of these two countries. Both use narratives highly critical of the United States and NATO. However, while Russia has crafted a “fortress narrative” that focuses on external threats and non-Western resilience, China promotes a “bridge narrative,” advocating for spanning geopolitical gaps and championing global integration. Both narrative strategies converge in their criticism of shared adversaries but diverge in their portrayals of the blocs they lead.

We develop an extensive mapping of the revolving door phenomenon by examining the work experience of 420,153 individuals in top corporate positions at 12,869 firms. More than half of these firms have at least one such individual with prior experience in one of 187 executive branch agencies. We find that firms are more likely to receive procurement contracts following the appointment of a former regulator transitioning within 2 years of leaving the agency, a result consistent with the “knowledge” hypothesis. Less-complex contracts signed following the appointment of former regulators are more likely to be renegotiated, increasing costs for the government.

Between 1817 and 1831, four German scientists – Karl von Martius, Georg Langsdorff, Ludwig Riedel, and Friedrich Sello – undertook expeditions in Brazil with the goal of collecting natural specimens, particularly focusing on Brazilian cinchona plants. Renowned for their medicinal properties, especially in the treatment of fever diseases, cinchona specimens were extensively utilized by local Brazilian communities. The widespread use of cinchona raises important questions regarding how German scientists acquired knowledge of the therapeutic properties of plants, previously unknown within German pharmacology. This paper argues that the German understanding of Brazil's cinchona trees was situated within an imperialist endeavor that not only appropriated indigenous knowledge but also involved conducting experiments on these plants and their effects on local populations. This hybridization of knowledge about cinchona was characterized by an asymmetrical dominance of German pharmacological experimentation, which sought to enhance organic life and establish utopian, “healthy” German societies, in both German territories and Brazil. Consequently, German chemical experiments with Brazilian cinchona specimens intersected with biopolitical practices, aimed at manipulating both plant and human life through therapeutic interventions.

Drag has a long history in the LGBTQ community as a means of political engagement, activism, protest, and community building. Today, drag is popular in the LGBTQ community and in the rest of society. At the same time, it is routinely a target of conservative backlash against the LGBTQ community. Despite drag’s inherently political nature, political science has failed to engage substantially with the influence of drag. This article offers a justification and research agenda to bring drag into the mainstream of political science.

Helminthiasis is a common infection in both humans and other animal populations and negatively affects the health of the host, causing a range of morbidity and even mortality, especially in young people and those with weakened immune systems. A variety of diagnostic procedures with a number of modifications are available to identify the sources of infection and to assess the epidemiological situation, the effectiveness of parasite control programs, anthelmintic treatment, and the prevention of drug resistance. These can be simple and cheap methods – for example, stool smear examination – or modern highly sensitive methods – for example, PCR analysis. This review attempts to summarize the advantages and limitations of each of these frequently used methods.

This paper seeks to challenge principles of culpability transfer as they appear in both criminal law and moral philosophy. I begin by discussing the legal doctrine of substituted mens rea, focusing on Section 33.1 of Canada’s Criminal Code. I argue that this doctrine violates the principle of contemporaneity, which there are sound philosophical reasons to accept. I then argue that the same reasons apply to tracing accounts of moral responsibility. Finally, drawing on the moral luck literature, I argue that cases of extreme intoxication are better analyzed in terms of harm-causation than culpability-transfer.

A famous theorem of Shokurov states that a general anticanonical divisor of a smooth Fano threefold is a smooth K3 surface. This is quite surprising since there are several examples where the base locus of the anticanonical system has codimension two. In this paper, we show that for four-dimensional Fano manifolds the behaviour is completely opposite: if the base locus is a normal surface, and hence has codimension two, all the anticanonical divisors are singular.

Research in digital transformation has focused on the challenges, determinants, or influencing resources, tools, and capabilities that enhance successful performance, innovation, competitive advantage, and internationalization. This paper discusses the process of digital transformation in the context of the footwear industry in Portugal, which is an interesting cluster of small and medium enterprises with a reported turnaround from traditional manufacturing targeting the domestic market to an innovative industry highly focused on export. The authors analyzed five important footwear companies ‘Made in Portugal’. The results show different stages of digital transformation, different levels of digital leadership, and different digital capabilities. The heterogeneous stage of digital maturity found has implications in the desired common positioning of the clustering-based brand ‘Portuguese Shoes’. The paper offers guidance for companies to align with the digital transformation requirements and respond to the global digital challenges, which can be transferred to other clustering industries and geographies.