Light access is the primary factor affecting yields in cacao-based agroforestry systems (CAFS). While CAFS ecosystem services provision is extensively documented, research on improving light access in CAFS remains scarce. Shade canopy pruning, a developing technique in Latin America, is part of the long-term SysCom Bolivia trial. It is undertaken twice a year, at the start of the rainy and dry seasons. This paper presents the results of a 5-year study on the relationship between CAFS canopy cover, flowering levels, cocoa yields, and pruning events from this trial.

The seasonality and peak periods of flowering and pod production were independent from the cropping system, underlining both climatic- and genetically determined production patterns. Yet, flowering levels depended on canopy cover levels during the rainy season, which translated into different pod production levels in the following months. Average annual yields were 1300 kg ha-1 for full sun cacao, 780 kg ha-1 for agroforestry systems (AF), and 640 kg ha-1 for dynamic agroforestry systems (DAF), with rainy season canopy covers maintained at 25–35% for AF and 40–60% for DAF.

The relationships between canopy cover, flowering, and cocoa yield were found to be exponential, indicating that the lower the canopy cover, the greater the yield increase could be expected from pruning. The lower levels of cover obtained in AF after the ‘flowering’ pruning triggered better flowering levels in comparison to DAF. However, these did not systematically translate into significantly higher yields, underlining the probable significance of the ‘ripening pruning’ for DAF’s cocoa yield. Overall, our results show (i) the great potential of timely shade canopy pruning and (ii) the need to adapt such a technique to systems’ diversity and density to make it cost/labour-effective and support its scalability.

Using an explicit Eichler–Shimura–Harder isomorphism, we establish the analog of Manin’s rationality theorem for Bianchi periods and hence special values of L-functions of Bianchi cusp forms. This gives a new short proof of a result of Hida in the case of Euclidean imaginary quadratic fields. In particular, we give an explicit proof using the space of Bianchi period polynomials constructed by Karabulut and describe the action of Hecke operators.

Reduction in mobility due to gait impairment is a critical consequence of diseases affecting the neuromusculoskeletal system, making detecting anomalies in a person’s gait a key area of interest. This challenge is compounded by within-subject and between-subject variability, further emphasized in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), where gait patterns exhibit significant heterogeneity. This study introduces a novel perspective on modeling kinematic gait patterns, recognizing the inherent hierarchical structure of the data, which is gathered from contralateral limbs, individuals, and groups of individuals comprising a population, using wearable sensors. Rather than summarizing features, this approach models the entire gait cycle functionally, including its variation. A Hierarchical Variational Sparse Heteroscedastic Gaussian Process was used to model the shank angular velocity across 28 MS and 28 healthy individuals. The utility of this methodology was underscored by its granular analysis capabilities. This facilitated a range of quantifiable comparisons, spanning from group-level assessments to patient-specific analyses, addressing the complexity of pathological gait patterns and offering a robust methodology for kinematic pattern characterization for large datasets. The group-level analysis highlighted notable differences during the swing phase and towards the end of the stance phase, aligning with previously established literature findings. Moreover, the study identified the heteroscedastic gait pattern variability as a distinguishing feature of MS gait. Additionally, a novel approach for lower limb gait asymmetry quantification has been proposed. The use of probabilistic hierarchical modeling facilitated a better understanding of the impaired gait pattern, while also expressing potential for extrapolation to other pathological conditions affecting gait.

Ever since the beginning of opera, the scenografo’s role has fluctuated between invention and execution, conceptual creation and manual realisation. Initially considered an art in the old, Latin sense of the word – a craft or trade – the profession gradually gained social and aesthetic respectability, shedding its associations with the technical skills of artisans and acquiring the prestige of modern artistic expression. By the early 1800s, prominent scenografi were hailed as ‘men of genius’, although their ennoblement was never quite as complete as some renowned commentators seemed to suggest. Indeed, while we may be tempted to view the scenografo’s transformation from craftsman to artist as an uninterrupted, linear development, the debates on operatic staging that accompanied the 1930s Maggio Musicale Fiorentino challenge this inclination.

This article examines the role and status of operatic scenografi in 1930s Italy, with a particular focus on Florence and the intersection between cultural and institutional histories of the profession. What was Italian operatic set design at the time? What did this theatrical art mean, represent, produce in Tuscany’s foremost Renaissance city? Is it possible to develop a specifically urban approach to the history of set design before World War II, and where might this leave our understanding of opera production labour both during the Fascist period and today?

Amid profoundly unstable and vulnerable times, conventional education systems continue to reflect the dominant ideology in modernity that has contributed to the current global polycrisis. This study explores how educators engage in vernacular pedagogical practices, locally grounded, relational and often situated outside standard curricula, that act as counterpoints to the conventional constraints using a Place-Based Education (PBE) approach. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 14 educators from the Southeast Michigan Stewardship (SEMIS) Coalition, the research investigates how educators experience job satisfaction, define their roles and navigate tensions between dominant norms and community-rooted learning. Findings suggest that educators embrace indeterminism as a source of creativity, responsiveness and growth, weaving together interlaced strands of personal, cultural and ecological meaning in their vernacular pedagogical practices. Educators carve out alternative ways of knowing and relating, positioning PBE as a cultural stance that enables responsive, locally rooted reform amid today’s complex, uncertain and interconnected crises.