For each integer $d\geq 2$, let $\mathrm {M}_d$ denote the moduli space of maps $f: \mathbb {P}^1\to \mathbb {P}^1$ of degree d. We study the geometric configurations of subsets of postcritically finite (or PCF) maps in $\mathrm {M}_d$. A complex-algebraic subvariety $Y \subset \mathrm {M}_d$ is said to be PCF-special if it contains a Zariski-dense set of PCF maps. Here we prove that there are only finitely many positive-dimensional irreducible PCF-special subvarieties in $\mathrm {M}_d$ with degree $\leq D$. In addition, there exist constants $N = N(D,d)$ and $B = B(D,d)$ so that for any complex algebraic subvariety $X \subset \mathrm {M}_d$ of degree $\leq D$, the Zariski closure $\overline {X \cap \mathrm {PCF}_d}$ has at most N irreducible components, each with degree $\leq B$. We also prove generalizations of these results for points with small critical height in $\mathrm {M}_d(\overline {\mathbb {Q}})$.

This study investigates consumer preferences for two emerging food waste reduction technologies – gene editing and all-natural spray coating – applied to apples. Using a discrete choice experiment with a nationally representative sample of U.S. consumers (n = 413), we estimate willingness to pay for gene-edited apples, spray-coated apples, and untreated apples. A generalized mixed logit model in willingness to pay space reveals that consumers exhibit the highest WTP for gene-edited apples ($2.45/lb), followed by spray-coated apples ($2.37/lb), with untreated apples valued least ($1.79/lb). Latent Class Analysis identifies three consumer segments: Price-Sensitive Skeptics, Sustainability-Oriented Consumers, and Selective Technology Adopters. Sustainability-Oriented Consumers showed the strongest support for both technologies, while Selective Technology Adopters displayed a clear preference for gene editing. Behavioral attitudes, rather than demographic variables, were the main drivers of segmentation. These findings suggest that tailored marketing strategies and policy interventions, including sustainability messaging, pricing incentives, and educational outreach, can support the adoption of food waste-reducing technologies. Overall, consumers are receptive to both gene-edited and spray-coated apples, though concerns about biotechnology and price sensitivity remain. Results offer insights for producers, retailers, and regulators aiming to enhance fresh produce sustainability and reduce food waste along the supply chain.

As a racialized group that is subject to discrimination, US Latinxs are often considered “natural” coalitional partners for Black-led civil rights struggles. Although the BLM movement may serve as a potential site for cross-racial coalition building because both Latinxs and Blacks suffer from racial profiling by law enforcement, the development of a shared status across group boundaries hinges on the interpretation by Latinxs of both their personal- and group-level discrimination experiences. Using the 2020 CMPS, I explore how multiple dimensions of Latinx racial group consciousness (perceptions of discrimination, intra- and intergroup commonality, and racial identity) shape their cross-racial alliances with Black social movements. Results from multivariate analysis show that Latinxs who acknowledge Black Americans’ continued struggle against racial discrimination in both American society and the Latinx community are positively oriented toward the BLM movement. Findings also reveal contrasting effects for inter- and intragroup commonality: the former is strongly and consistently predictive of increased support for the BLM Movement, whereas the latter is associated with decreased support. These findings underscore both the opportunities and challenges for Latinx–Black political coalition building.

Balister, the second author, Groenland, Johnston, and Scott recently showed that there are asymptotically $C4^n/n^{3/4}$ many unordered sequences that occur as degree sequences of graphs with $n$ vertices. Combining limit theory for infinitely divisible distributions with a new connection between a class of random walk trajectories and a subset counting formula from additive number theory, we describe $C$ in terms of Walkup’s number of rooted plane trees. The bijection is related to an instance of the Lévy–Khintchine formula. Our main result complements a result of Stanley, that ordered graphical sequences are related to quasi-forests.

Significant and widespread surface melt is prevalent across glaciers and ice caps, and such surface melt is transmitted through complex supraglacial pathways. The efficiency with which this water transits across glaciers and ice caps is important since it is by these networks that water is removed from the system, constituting mass loss. Here, we use remote sensing to explore mass loss of the Barnes Ice Cap in Arctic Canada since the 1980s alongside a detailed investigation of supraglacial drainage evolution, focussing on the central-southern outlet which is the fastest moving part of the ice-cap. The Barnes Ice Cap is almost entirely covered in a network of supraglacial channels from the highest to lowest elevations. These channels exhibit extraordinary stability over many years and are re-used annually. We also observe significant and widespread surface lowering across most of the Barnes Ice Cap, yet erosion by flowing water in these channels is of sufficient magnitude to ensure they persist rather than re-establishing anew each year. As a result, efficient routing of water across and off the ice cap is likely re-initiated quickly each year, removing large volumes of water from the glacier system.

This comparative study explores the relationship between political and personal religious attitudes and their impact on reconciliation and tolerance in conflicts. Using survey data from 2,171 respondents across Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia, the research highlights the mediating role of religious conflict perception in shaping attitudes toward reconciliation. The findings challenge deterministic views of religion’s role in protracted conflict, showing that while political–religious attitudes correlate with a rejection of reconciliation, personal religious attitudes do not. Rather, the interplay of religious attitudes, justice perceptions, and conflict narratives shapes these attitudes. In internal political conflicts, the adoption of religious attitudes does not always correlate with intolerance. The study integrates constructivist and instrumentalist perspectives, demonstrating that the role of religion in conflict is context-dependent. It also shows that, regardless of religious affiliation, political and personal religious orientations similarly influence attitudes toward reconciliation and tolerance, offering important insights for intergroup and conflict resolution strategies.

How do citizen interest groups influence policy in domains dominated by political and economic elites? Recent research suggests their success hinges on outsider strategies to pressure policymakers, such as mobilizing public opinion. In contrast, a feminist platform named Platform for Equal and Non-transferable Birth and Adoption Leave (PPiiNA) built insider alliances with female politicians across party lines to make paternity and maternity leave equal and non-transferable in Spain in 2019. This article explores this case in depth by tracing almost 20 years of policy evolution through parliamentary documents and interviews. Against employer opposition and the absence of trade unions, the case corroborates the relevance of women in politics by illustrating how descriptive representation can open insider channels of influence to feminist advocacy groups. Nonetheless, the approval of the reform ultimately depended on left-wing governing power, while policy formulation was dominated by political elites and employer groups, limiting the capacity of cross-partisan feminist alliances to shape final policy output.

Prenatal exposure to PUFA has been associated with child weight at birth and may have a persistent effect on adiposity development across childhood. Fish is the richest dietary source of n-3 PUFA, albeit few studies have investigated associations between maternal fish consumption during pregnancy and child weight. This study examines associations between maternal fish consumption and prenatal PUFA status (n-3 and n-6), with longitudinal measures of child weight in the high fish-eating Seychelles Child Development Study Nutrition Cohort 2. Maternal fish consumption during pregnancy was assessed using a Fish Use Questionnaire administered at 28 weeks’ gestation. Serum PUFA were quantified in maternal blood collected at 28 weeks’ gestation and in cord blood collected at delivery. Birth weight was measured at delivery and classified according to WHO growth standards (n 1185). Child length/height (m) and weight (kg) were recorded at 20 months (n 1182), 7 (n 1167) and 13 (n 878) years. Child BMI was classified according to z-scores. Maternal total fish consumption (range: 0·0–584·71 g/d) was not associated with child weight at any age. At 7 and 13 years, maternal total n-6 PUFA were associated with increased risk of overweight/obesity (7 years; OR = 1·62, p = 0·037, 13 years; OR = 2·05, p = 0·005). Lower (<0·071 mg/ml) cord DHA concentrations were associated with a greater likelihood of being large for gestational age (LGA; >90th percentile) when compared with higher (>0·129 mg/ml) cord DHA concentrations (OR 4·17, p = 0·017). This study suggests that prenatal maternal n-3 and n-6 PUFA status may influence postnatal outcomes, including child adiposity from birth until adolescence.

Hypoponera Santschi, 1938 is a genus of ponerine ants, well known for its simplified morphology, lacking any clear autopomorphy, and its cosmopolitan distribution. Here, we describe the first Hypoponera in Dominican amber. The discovery of Hypoponera electrocacica new species confirms the long-expected presence of the genus in the Caribbean Miocene. The modern diversity of Hypoponera in the Greater Antilles now stands at five species and two putative subspecies.

UUID: https://zoobank.org/685e8727-72e2-4723-bce3-5d7c53680eee

Indicators of dairy cow welfare are important for the future assessment and improvement of cow welfare on-farm. The objective of this study was to investigate three categories of non-invasive physiological parameters as potential indicators of welfare in dairy cows, namely cumulation of cortisol in the hair, variability in heart rate (HRV), and variability and composition of milk yield, while taking personality traits into account. These indicators were assessed when cows (all primiparous; n = 48) were housed under reference conditions and when exposed to either improving or worsening housing conditions (weekly changes over the course of six weeks). The worsening housing led to an increase in heart rate and a decrease in milk yield. The housing effects on HRV and other milk-derived indicators, however, were affected by the personality traits of activity, fearfulness and sociability. Less active cows, less fearful cows and less social cows all displayed increases in HRV in the improving housing, but more active cows showed against expectations increased HRV in the worsening housing. More fearful cows showed increases in daily milk fluctuations in the worsening housing. These results point to HRV and milk-derived indicators, the latter of which are often routinely collected and that in addition to being non-invasive are also non-intrusive, as providing interesting physiological indicators of dairy cow welfare which will warrant further research.

The past few years have seen a steady flow of articles, reports, and media commentary on China and the Middle East. In both popular and academic discourse, there is a growing debate about whether or when China will play a larger role in the region, and what the implications are for regional and global politics.1 With some exceptions, most of these discussions remain within a framework of US economic, foreign policy, and national security concerns, under the assumption that China’s overriding goal is to replicate or counter American influence. In doing so, the conversations often rely upon the narrow view from Washington and reproduce the underlying logic of US foreign policy. Read through this lens, all Chinese initiatives are either a successful or failed attempt to counter US dominance, and without reference to the Chinese and local perspective, critical details are often lost or misread. This is especially pronounced in media coverage of Sino–Iranian relations, which are often framed as a threat to American interests and global security (often conflated), or as part of a multipolar alternative to a hegemonic world order. Although the political, military, and economic implications of China’s relationship with Iran and the wider region are unquestionably important, closer attention to local sources and perspectives can provide an alternative view that both enriches our understanding and tempers our expectations of China’s role in Iran and in the wider region. This dynamic is clearly visible in the discourse surrounding the Iran–China 25-year cooperation agreement, signed on March 27, 2021.

The Zugspitzplatt represents a key high-alpine reference landscape in German geography. Located below the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest peak, it still hosts some of the country’s small remaining glacier ice reserves. Owing to its long history of scientific observation, high accessibility, and pronounced sensitivity to climatic change, the Zugspitzplatt has acquired emblematic significance as a national reference site for alpine geomorphological and glaciological research. The observation of the Schneeferner glaciers follows a long-standing tradition of glacier monitoring in this region. As of 2022, one of the two glaciers has completely disappeared, and the remaining one is critically endangered. Here, we present geodetic mass balances since 1892 based on historical maps and own surveys. Measurements of ice thicknesses allow the determination of absolute ice masses and their change. From 52 megatons of ice in 1892, less than one megaton was left in 2023 and its disappearance is inevitable. While this deglaciation will have negligible effects on humankind, it represents a potent visual and emotional indicator of climate change. Given the presence of a touristic hotspot and an environmental research station, the Zugspitzplatt has the potential to serve as a focal point for climate education.

To address the challenges of low detection accuracy, missed detections, and high false detection rates for small targets in PCB defect detection tasks, this study proposes an enhanced YOLOv8 methodology incorporating feature focusing and multi-scale fusion techniques. Initially, a lightweight GTADH module is integrated into the detection head of YOLOv8, employing a shared convolution and task alignment mechanism to minimize model parameters while enhancing classification and localization accuracy. Subsequently, an adaptive feature-focusing module is introduced into the feature fusion network to bolster the detection capabilities for small targets via multi-scale feature fusion. Finally, the reverse residual moving block (iRMB) and attention mechanisms are combined within the backbone network to facilitate efficient extraction and fusion of feature information, preserving finer details of small targets. Experimental results demonstrate that the Improved YOLO algorithm achieves a 1.3% increase in detection accuracy and a 7.3% enhancement in mAP50:90 evaluation standards compared to the original YOLOv8s algorithm on the PCB defect dataset, while also reducing model size by 60%, thus showcasing its effectiveness in small target detection tasks.

In the UK, fireworks are common during several celebratory events throughout the year. Previous evidence has shown the adverse effects of fireworks on domestic companion animals. However, there has been little focus on equids. An online survey was developed to understand the impact of fireworks on horses and donkeys, how owners attempt to mitigate these impacts, and the owners’ views on fireworks. A total of 1,234 horse owners and 232 donkey owners responded. The majority (77%) advocated tighter regulations surrounding the use of fireworks, including reduction in the maximum noise produced, and control over when fireworks were used. Horse owners typically perceived their animals to be more fearful of fireworks than donkey owners, with running, kicking, bucking and rearing, being the most reported responses. However, horses used for hunting and sport were perceived as being less fearful. Eight percent of horse owners reported injury due to fireworks compared to donkeys, with only one report of injury. Stabling, staying with the animal, moving the animal to different premises, and music, were common mitigation strategies, all of which were rated as effective by owners. Owner concern and horse injury rates highlight fireworks as a potential threat to horse welfare and safety. Whilst owner mitigation strategies can be effective, they are limited in their ability to completely prevent injury and, importantly, require suitable forewarning. Differences between horses and donkeys are potentially due to different fear responses, with horses more likely to exhibit flight or fright responses, and donkeys flight or freeze.

Neuroinflammatory syndromes in children often present with overlapping clinical, radiological and immunological features, posing significant diagnostic challenges. We describe two pediatric patients with acute neuroinflammatory presentations who fulfilled criteria for a well-recognized antibody-associated demyelinating disorder but also demonstrated clinical and laboratory features suggestive of a broader hyperinflammatory process. These cases underscore the diagnostic complexity when systemic and central nervous system inflammation coexist and highlight the importance of maintaining a broad differential diagnosis. Clinicians should be aware that antibody positivity does not preclude alternative or coexisting diagnoses and that failure to recognize hyperinflammatory syndromes may delay appropriate therapy.

Portunid crabs of the genus Charybdis De Haan, 1833 are among the most frequently reported marine invaders worldwide. Here, we report the first record of Charybdis (Archias) hoplites (Wood-Mason, 1877) outside its native Indo-West Pacific range, collected from the Test Estuary, Southampton Water, United Kingdom. Morphological and molecular analyses confirm the specimen’s identity and clarify diagnostic features useful for distinguishing C. (A.) hoplites from closely related taxa. This represents the northernmost record of any Charybdis species and suggests a long-distance dispersal event, associated with shipping activities in the Port of Southampton. Environmental data indicate that salinity and turbidity at the collection site are within known tolerances for Charybdis spp., although low winter temperatures may limit survival and establishment. The detection of this warm-water species in a major international port highlights the ongoing need to monitor non-native marine fauna.

While European integration has transformed national parliaments, its long-term impact on conflicts between governments and opposition parties remains insufficiently understood. This study addresses that gap by analysing how Sweden’s accession to the European Union (EU) in 1995 altered the patterns of parliamentary opposition. Using longitudinal data on government proposals in the Swedish parliament, 1970–2022, we apply a difference-in-differences design to compare opposition intensity before and after accession. Our findings reveal two major transformations. First, we identify a sustained decline in opposition in internationally embedded economic and tax policies, supporting the view that the EU political system structurally depoliticises economic governance. Second, we observe a gradual but pronounced politicisation in policy areas tied to national identity and social welfare, where EU competences are limited and domestic discretion remains. We thus find that European integration reshapes parliamentary conflict by dampening opposition in economic policymaking while intensifying contestation in policy areas related to national identity and social protection. Rather than reducing opposition overall, EU membership redirects it across issue areas. Taken together, the results show that the distribution of national and supranational competences conditions parliamentary opposition. As Sweden is a most likely case of EU-induced cleavage transformation, similar dynamics are likely across other member states as well. The study advances parliamentary research by shifting attention from formal powers and debates to observable opposition behaviour over time. It also adds to theories of modern-day cleavage formation by providing evidence that European integration reduces conflict in economic policy while intensifying identity-based divides.