The Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem (SHIME) system was provided with baby feed for one week to stabilise the microbial community, followed by a 10-day period with baby feed and another 10-day period with adult feed. The study was conducted using sterilised and standardised feed formulations, which model dietary conditions in vitro. Following the transition from baby to adult feed, a significant reduction in the proportion of butyrate in comparison to total SCFA was found after transitioning to adult feed in both the transverse colon and distal colon bioreactors. Our findings suggest that abrupt early-life dietary changes from simple to complex carbohydrates as well as the exclusion of bovine milk proteins can transiently lower the ability of the microbiota to produce butyrate. The lack of additional microbial input leads to a delay or impairment of the adaptation to the modified feed composition. However, given the short treatment duration and sterilised feed composition, these findings should be interpreted within the limitations of this in vitro model. A reduction in butyrate concentration following the transition to adult feed may reflect a temporary shift in microbial metabolic activity rather than a long-term impact on energy extraction efficiency in vivo.

Bimetallic Pt nanoparticles play a critical role in various applications, including catalysis, chemical production, fuel cells, and biosensing. In this study, we start with Au@Pt core–shell structure and investigate the evolution of these nanoparticles at elevated temperatures. Our in-situ X-ray diffraction study at elevated temperatures concluded that the onset of Au–Pt alloying occurs between 500 and 600 °C. At higher temperatures, the nanoparticles gradually approached the state of a solid solution, but the composition across the nanoparticles was not uniform even at 1,000 °C. Our results suggest that the alloyed nanoparticles at high temperatures are dominated by one solid solution but contain distinct regions with slightly different compositions.

We study the uniform convergence rates of nonparametric estimators for a probability density function and its derivatives when the density has a known pole. Such situations arise in some structural microeconometric models, for example, in auction, labor, and consumer search, where uniform convergence rates of density functions are important for nonparametric and semiparametric estimation. Existing uniform convergence rates based on Rosenblatt’s kernel estimator are derived under the assumption that the density is bounded. They are not applicable when there is a pole in the density. We treat the pole nonparametrically and show various kernel-based estimators can attain any convergence rate that is slower than the optimal rate when the density is bounded uniformly over an appropriately expanding support under mild conditions.

The term ‘water pocket’ describes invisible en- and subglacial water reservoirs that can cause sudden glacial outburst floods. However, there is currently no consensus on its definition and the formation and rupture mechanisms of water pockets remain poorly understood. This study aims to understand the mechanisms behind water pocket outburst floods (WPOFs) from alpine glaciers by analyzing their spatial and temporal distribution, pre-event meteorological conditions and the glacio-geomorphic features of the glaciers from which the floods originate. To this end, we updated an inventory of known WPOFs in the Swiss Alps to 91 events from 37 individual glaciers. Most WPOFs occurred between June and September, likely linked to meltwater input. Meteorological data indicate anomalously high temperatures during the days preceding most events and heavy precipitation on 25% of days for which WPOFs occur, indicating that water pockets typically rupture during periods of high water input. We propose four mechanisms of water pocket formation: temporary subglacial channel blockage (which is the mechanism suggested most often for our inventory), hydraulic barriers, water-filled crevasses and accumulation of liquid water behind barriers of cold ice (thermal barriers). Overall, our analysis highlights the challenge of understanding WPOFs due to the subsurface nature of water pockets, emphasizing the need for field-based research to improve their detection and monitoring.

This paper presents an in-depth study of the English conative construction (hit the ball vs hit at the ball), a particular case of variation between NP- and PP-patterns. Approaching the phenomenon from a usage-based, cognitive perspective, the study is interested in the different factors driving this alternation, specifically in the interaction of lexical effects on the one hand and high-level predictors relating to processing complexity on the other hand. More specifically, the paper explores the diachronic dimension of these effects, using corpus data from Middle English to Late Modern English (Penn-Helsinki Corpora of Historical English; 1150–1914). To assess the relative impact of the variables, the study compares the traditionally used methods of collostructional analysis and logistic regression to a more recent tool, namely elastic net regression. The findings ultimately indicate that while complexity does seem to play a role in this alternation, there are also strong lexical effects.

Ex ante, my primary concerns were about implementation across the wide expanse of federal applications, supporting the supplemental use of distributional weighting, trying to find a supportable middle ground on discounting using the expected value of bounds and a more consistent scope of analysis. Ex post, I felt heard if not followed, perhaps not uncommon for reviewers.

This study evaluated the impact of four cover crop species and their termination timings on cover crop biomass, weed control, and corn yield. A field experiment was arranged in a split-plot design in which cover crop species (wheat, cereal rye, hairy vetch, and rapeseed) were the main plot factor, and termination timings [4, 2, 1, and 0 wk before planting corn (WBP)] was the subplot factor. In both years (2021 and 2022), hairy vetch produced the most biomass (5,021 kg ha–1) among cover crop species, followed by cereal rye (4,387 kg ha–1), wheat (3,876 kg ha–1), and rapeseed (2,575 kg ha–1). Regression analysis of cover crop biomass with accumulated growing degree days (AGDDs) indicated that for every 100 AGDD increase, the biomass of cereal rye, wheat, hairy vetch, and rapeseed increased by 880, 670, 780, and 620 kg ha–1, respectively. The density of grass and small-seeded broadleaf (SSB) weeds at 4 wk after preemergence herbicide (WAPR) application varied significantly across termination timings. The grass and SSB weed densities were 56% and 36% less at 0 WBP compared with 2 WBP, and 67% and 61% less compared with 4 WBP. The sole use of a roller-crimper did not affect the termination of rapeseed at 0 WBP and resulted in the least corn yield (3,046 kg ha–1), whereas several different combinations of cover crops and termination timings resulted in greater corn yield. In conclusion, allowing cover crops to grow longer in the spring offers more biomass for weed suppression and impacts corn yield.

Radiocarbon dating is a widely used method in archaeology and earth sciences, but the precision of calibrated dates from single radiocarbon measurements can be difficult to understand. This study investigates the precision of calibrated radiocarbon dates depending on the uncertainties of the measurement and the details of the calibration curve. Using data for the Holocene epoch and the IntCal20 calibration curve, over 1,000,000 hypothetical radiocarbon measurements were calibrated and analyzed. The study shows that high-precision measurements can yield calibrated date ranges from less than 50 years to more than 200 years (at the 95.4% probability) depending on the specifics of the calibration curve. This research may serve as a tool for planning future studies and assessing whether high-precision measurements are beneficial for proposed case.

This paper deals with symbolic and ontological human–animal relationships at the Early Neolithic (PPNA) site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey. Here a series of megalithic round stone buildings, built by hunter-gatherers, were embellished by large stone pillars with depictions of animals, particularly predators. On the basis of an analysis of the pillar iconography and of recent anthropological and archaeological insights about alterity and perceptions of nature and culture, it will be argued that human–animal relationships at Göbekli Tepe were part of an ontology marked by both immanence and hierarchy. Imagistic ritualization in evocative architectural contexts, probably directed by shamans, served to express such relations. The internal logic of this is exemplified in a model of the world of Göbekli Tepe, based on a novel approach with so-called referential relations and compositional hierarchy as ways to explore and interpret relations between beings and things.

Chronological studies are pivotal for understanding different dimensions of the past. Latin America has embraced various archaeometric dating methods, including radiocarbon (14C) dating. This article reviews the development and challenges of radiocarbon databases and datasets in Latin America, analyzing their integration with global projects and highlighting regional disparities. While global databases like IntChron and CARD often marginalize Latin American data, local projects such as ArqueoData, AndesC14, MesoRAD, SAAID and ExPaND focus on regional needs. The fragmentation of radiocarbon data across publications, technical reports, and limited-access archives hinders accessibility and collaboration. This article underscores the necessity of transitioning from static datasets to dynamic web applications, utilizing APIs to enhance data interoperability, incorporating FAIR principles (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability). This article proposes embedding Latin American initiatives within stable, local institutions to ensure sustainability, establishing classification standards for both radiocarbon dates and associated archaeological contexts. Interdisciplinary collaboration between archaeologists and computer scientists is crucial to developing robust, interoperable databases. By embracing these strategies, Latin America can bridge technological and economic gaps, strengthening its contribution to global archaeological research and fostering new insights into the region’s past.

The Centenary of the First World War saw unprecedent prominence given to the ‘colonial contribution’ in commemorative discourse. While this newfound public recognition sometimes relied on simplistic and sanitised narratives of the war, scholarship produced in the period has greatly enriched understandings of how conflict was experienced by colonised peoples. In this article, I explore the utility of one of the key conceptual innovations of the Centenary, the Greater War, for the analysis of colonial experiences of the conflict. I do this by considering three key questions: Can the Greater War framework facilitate new comparative histories of violence in the war? How do its expanded chronologies account for colonial contexts? Can we adapt its conceptual frameworks to better integrate colonial histories? Exploring the potential answers to these questions will point to new avenues of research that can ensure the colonial is effectively incorporated into our narratives of the global conflict.

In January 2009, on its way from Cape Town to South America (at around 49.5∘S and 25∘W), the German research vessel Polarstern entered a region with a dense cover of icebergs and broken-off chunks of ice up to a few meters in size, largely hidden in a thick fog, a result of the microclimate created by the large agglomeration of icebergs and broken-off glacial ice. Melting of glacial ice led to a cooling (by up to 8∘C) and freshening (by up to 2.5 psu) of the surface ocean with perturbations reaching down to about 75 m depth. The observed surface ocean equilibrium fugacity of CO2, fCO2, dropped to values that were over 100 µatm lower than atmospheric fCO2 values. Given the similar concentrations in chlorophyll a and the macronutrients nitrate and phosphate inside and outside the perturbed areas, influences of potential iron input from disintegrating icebergs on phytoplankton productivity and fCO2 can be ruled out. The low fCO2 values, compared to adjacent regions, can be attributed to thermodynamic effects, i.e. mostly increase of CO2 solubility with decreasing temperature with a smaller contribution from the dilution due to freshwater inputs. Based on these observations, we consider the potential impact on atmospheric fCO2 by the release of an armada of icebergs during Heinrich events.

This article uses non-literary essays that appeared in the Peruvian press during the Oncenio period in Peru (1919–30) to nuance our understanding of Latin American Orientalism. Critical study of the extant material shows that there were at least three strands of Orientalism circulating among Peruvian readers, with the presence or absence of Asian communities in Peru and the larger history of Spanish imperialism and Spanish-language Orientalism acting as their conditions of possibility. While the large Chinese community in Peru triggered an Orientalist backlash akin to modern Anglo-French Orientalism, the absence of Southeast Asians in the country allowed for a more medieval-colonial Orientalism to persist, one that focused more on wonder for and exoticisation of Asian cultures. The exception would be the Philippines, which due to its previous history as a Spanish colony, was presented as a ‘modern’ country comparable to any in Latin America. Given that representations of Southeast Asia are often overlooked in the study of Latin American Orientalism—which in turn tends to focus on literary representations by writers from countries like Argentina or Mexico—this article fills these gaps and contributes to the global histories of Latin America and of Orientalism.

A dual-beam platform is developed for all-optical Thomson/Compton scattering, with versatile parameter tuning capabilities including electron energy, radiation energy, radiation polarization, etc. By integrating this platform with a 200 TW Ti:sapphire laser system, we demonstrate the generation of inverse Compton scattering X-/gamma-rays with tunable energies ranging from tens of keV to MeV. The polarization of X-/gamma-rays is manipulated by adjusting the polarization of the scattering laser. In the near future, by combining this platform with multi-PW laser facilities, our goal is to explore the transition from nonlinear Thomson scattering to nonlinear Compton scattering, ultimately verifying theories related to strong-field quantum electrodynamics effects induced by extreme scattering.

A reduced dispersion relation for multibeam laser–plasma instability is derived. The dispersion relation includes the combined effects of self-coupling and interaction with other beams by sharing a common scattered light (SL modes) and by sharing a common plasma wave (SP modes). The latter two have the most prominent collective effects of all. We have solved the dispersion relation numerically for stimulated Raman scattering, and set different beam configurations and polarizations to discuss the spatial distributions of the temporal growth rate. The instability in the beam overlapping region is complicated, but there are still a few simple rules that govern the system, such as the dominancy of SL modes and subdominancy of backscattering and SP modes. The maximum growth rate always occurs at these special modes, or a new mode formed by combining two or three of the special modes. The reduced model provides us with the ability to understand the underlying physics of multibeam instabilities under general laser and plasma conditions.

This paper explores Italy’s perspective on West Germany’s evolving role in Europe in the 1970s, focusing on the interplay between leadership expectations and the fear of hegemony. In the context of the collapse of the Bretton Woods System, the oil crisis and transatlantic tensions, Italy viewed West Germany as both a potential leader and a dominant economic power. By examining political and public debates, this study delves into Italy’s complex ambivalence towards German leadership – admiring its economic strength while simultaneously fearing its influence over European integration and monetary policy – in a way that demonstrates a nuanced Italian reaction to German ‘reluctance’. The rejection of Germany’s hegemonic role was closely tied to an expectation of leadership. However, this expectation conflicted with the type of leadership Germany offered, revealing a sharp contrast between Italian and German conceptions of leadership.