Rapid deforestation in the tropics reduces the global carbon sequestration and storage capacity of forests. However, abandoned lands can recover naturally through secondary succession. While soil organic carbon (SOC) represents the largest carbon pool in young secondary forests, its drivers remain poorly understood. Here, we assessed the roles of environmental conditions (macro- and microclimate) and forest attributes (biomass and litter nutrients) in determining three key ecosystem processes (litter production, decomposition, and soil respiration) that influence SOC dynamics in secondary forests. We collected data from young secondary tropical dry and wet forests (2.3–3.6 years old) in Ghana. Wet forests had higher aboveground biomass, soil temperature and moisture, and litter production, whereas dry forests had higher litter nutrient concentrations and faster decomposition rates. SOC and soil respiration rates were similar between forest types. Structural equation modelling showed that (1) litter decomposition increased with litter production, litter nitrogen concentration, and soil temperature (rather than soil moisture), and (2) decomposition was the only significant driver of SOC. These findings highlight the central role of litter decomposition in building SOC during early forest succession and the indirect influence of climate on belowground carbon dynamics through its effects on litter quantity and quality and microclimate.

The contemporary LGBTQ+ history of Northern Ireland has emerged relatively recently. This article examines two negative models that fed into understandings of male homosexuality between the early 1960s and the end of the 1980s, and some of the discourses that emanated from them. Using contemporary comment, theological and medical writings, and oral history testimonies, this article charts the fortunes of models of ‘sickness’ and ‘sinfulness’. A campaign to secure law reform in the 1970s forced churches to confront the ‘problem’ of homosexuality. I demonstrate the complexity of responses from two major Protestant churches, the tentative emergence of a challenge from radical Christians and how this landscape has been obscured by the notoriety of an infamous fundamentalist campaign. As was the case in England, the notion of homosexuality as a pathology gained traction in Northern Ireland only in the 1950s and 1960s, leading to medical conversion practices, such as aversion therapy, which attempted to ‘cure’ men of same-sex desire. However, discourses conflicted, with regional social conditions resulting in ‘sickness’ co-existing uneasily with ‘sin’. And although it was opposed by a strain of evangelical thought, social conditions fostered by conservative religiosity enabled pathologisation to linger on through the 1980s.

Deliberation is routinely considered an essential component of a jury trial, contributing to the quality of fact-finding and confidence in jury verdicts. Unlike all other countries that use juries, Brazilian jurors do not deliberate. Instead, under the Brazilian jury system’s “incommunicability rule,” they submit their votes individually, without discussing the case with one another. How jurors approach the task of individual decision making and how they view and experience this notable absence of deliberation are unknown. The aim of this article, which is part of a broader research project on jurors’ decision making in femicide trials in Brazil, is to understand these experiences and views of Brazilian jurors, especially regarding the incommunicability rule. The research used qualitative methods, including ethnographic observations of trials and semi-structured interviews of jurors. The majority of jurors voiced support for the current practice, explaining that refraining from deliberation would ensure their impartiality. However, 41 percent of the jurors said that they would have liked to deliberate with others to exchange and debate views. Interviews also shed light on how the absence of deliberation affected the decision process and jurors’ satisfaction with the overall jury experience. This research contributes to an ongoing debate in Brazil over the incommunicability rule.

Antimicrobials are widely used to maintain animal health and productivity; however, their misuse contributes to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a critical One Health and global health concern. This study assessed the knowledge, awareness, and practices of animal health practitioners regarding antimicrobial use and AMR in Niger State, Nigeria. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey was conducted using purposive sampling, and data were analyzed at a 95% confidence level. A total of 62.8% of targeted practitioners participated. About 42.3% used antimicrobials for treating infections, while 12.2% used them for growth promotion. Only 19.5% correctly identified misuse as under-dosing, and 13.0% were unaware of what misuse entailed. Although 69.1% adhered to daily dosages as prescribed, only 1.6% performed confirmatory diagnoses before administration. Tetracycline (99.2%) and penicillin-streptomycin (82.1%) were the most frequently used antimicrobials. Satisfactory knowledge of antimicrobial use was significantly associated with practitioners aged 50–59 years (p = 0.002) and veterinarians (p = 0.001). Factors influencing misuse included improper usage (p < 0.001), weak regulation (p = 0.005), poor client finances (p = 0.001), low expertise (p = 0.001), and counterfeit drugs (p = 0.001). The findings underscore the urgent need for antimicrobial stewardship, stricter regulation, and continuous education of animal health practitioners.

Statins are effective drugs for lowering hypercholesterolemia and preventing cardiovascular diseases. They can cause various side effects, in particular statin-associated muscle symptoms (SAMS) associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and micronutrient depletion. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the efficacy of a supplementation with Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) against SAMS in statin-treated patients. A systematic literature search was performed in Medline and Cochrane Library in August 2024. Studies were selected for a meta-analysis according to the following criteria: randomised controlled trials (RCTs), adults taking statins (any type and dose), supplementation of CoQ10, a comparable control group, and muscle pain as outcome criterion. Cochrane Risk of Bias tool was used for bias assessment. Seven RCTs with 389 patients in total were included in this meta-analysis. The selected studies included 35 to 76 patients and had a duration ranging from 30 to 90 days with CoQ10 dosages ranging from 100 to 600 mg per day. Results show a significant reduction of SAMS in four trials and no significant change in three trials. Overall, a significant reduction in SAMS, measured as pain intensity, after CoQ10 supplementation was found: weighted mean difference (WMD) −0.96 (95% Confidence Interval −1.88; −0.03), p < 0.05. Supplementation of CoQ10 can reduce muscle pain in patients with SAMS, which is relevant for their well-being and treatment continuation. More research is needed for evidence-based recommendations.

Excellent products often contain profound cultural connotations. To improve the quality of cultural products, it is important to study how typical cultural carriers can be more promptly and efficiently identified and incorporated into products through a detailed and easy-to-use design process. In this article, we propose an approach from three different levels to assist designers in incorporating cultural features into products, including: (1) the integrated framework of the composition and division of cultural carriers, (2) the extraction and translation model from cultural carriers, cultural elements to cultural features and (3) the cultural product design process. The proposed approach was applied in a large and complex cultural product case, that is, inter-city train design. The evaluation of the recognition of culture features indicated that the approach contributed to conferring culture on products through thoughtful design and could ensure that the product schemes reflect cultural features as well as interesting cultural connotations.

ASReview is a software that can potentially reduce the workload of literature screening in systematic reviews by ranking the retrieved records. We assessed the tool’s feasibility, advantages, and limitations, to populate a database of cancer immunotherapy trials. ASReview is easy to use, and it efficiently identified relevant records. It may save resources compared to traditional systematic reviews using two human reviewers. Predefined procedures are necessary to maintain a transparent and reproducible workflow. Limitations include that adding references to existing projects is difficult and that the algorithm learns from every decision, even when this may not be appropriate.

The four pioneering African war correspondents who travelled to Asia in 1945 develop our understanding of Africa and the Second World War. This article argues that their tour challenges the existing scholarship on the conflict in two ways. Firstly, it bridges the common divide between “home” and fighting fronts in our understanding of wartime Africa. Secondly, due to the correspondents’ own positionality as colonial African newspapermen, it offers insights into African military service in ways not permitted by colonial and military archives. Within an overarching frame examining the tour’s origin and conclusion in Africa, the article assesses the correspondents’ activities in Asia in terms of their interactions with and analysis of African troops. Cumulatively, it contends that the correspondents’ tour both considerably expands our understanding of African soldiers’ lives in the Second World War, and also directly connects the “home front” with the Asian theatre of combat.

Detailed legal and court records of household and personal violence do not survive from early modern Ireland in sufficient numbers to allow for statistical analysis. However, close reading of selected court narratives about violence between householders allows analysis of the contested contemporary meanings of violence. In their descriptions, witnesses read the marks on injured bodies and interpreted their meanings according to gendered hierarchies of power within households. This article uses such narratives to analyse interpersonal violence between members of families and households in early modern Ireland.

Annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) is a globally distributed weed species with the ability to evolve resistance to herbicides. Oregon hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) growers have recently reported poor control of P. annua with clethodim, pendimethalin, paraquat, and glyphosate, raising concerns about new herbicide-resistance cases. To investigate these reports, we conducted a herbicide resistance survey of field-collected accessions using seed-based and whole-plant dose–response bioassays. Based on dose–response estimates, resistance to all four herbicides was confirmed. Clethodim-resistant accessions had resistance indices (RIs) of 2 to 10 compared with susceptible accessions with seed-based LD50 values of 0.4 to 0.5 µM and whole-plant LD50 values of 14 to 19 g ha⁻¹. Pendimethalin-resistant accessions had RIs of 3 to 47 compared with susceptible accessions with seed-based LD50 values of 0.5 to 1 µM and whole-plant LD50 values of 360 to 590 g ha⁻¹, and cross-resistance to pronamide was also confirmed (RI = 7 to 16; susceptible accessions LD50 = 550 to 600 g ha⁻¹). The glyphosate-resistant accession had RIs of 2 to 6 compared with susceptible accessions with seed-based LD50 values of 340 to 490 µM and whole-plant LD50 values of 60 to 95 g ha⁻¹. Paraquat-resistant accessions had RIs of 2 to 85 compared with susceptible accessions with seed-based LD50 values of 0.6 to 1 µM and whole-plant LD50 values of 30 to 50 g diquat ha⁻¹. This study documents the first global case of clethodim resistance in P. annua, pendimethalin and glyphosate resistance in Oregon, and paraquat resistance in P. annua in the United States. We also demonstrate, for the first time, that seed-based bioassays can detect clethodim and paraquat resistance in P. annua. Seed assays provided a rapid (2 wk), cost-effective diagnostic tool suitable for on-farm implementation and complementary to molecular diagnostics. These findings underscore the urgent need for integrated weed management in perennial systems and adoption of resistance diagnostics and stewardship programs to mitigate further resistance evolution.

This study assesses the seroprevalence of Rift Valley fever (RVF) in ruminants in Dhobley, Somalia, following a 2021 outbreak in Kenya. Among 142 ruminants sampled, 4.9% were seropositive for RVF virus (RVFV) antibody, with IgM antibodies (1.4%) indicating recent exposure, though no cases were RT-PCR-positive. Unregulated livestock movement and limited surveillance pose significant risks for future outbreaks, underscoring the need for enhanced surveillance systems and One Health strategies.

This study proposes a geometric solution to the norm differential game design problem in target-attacker-defender (TAD) engagements, addressing key limitations of conventional zero-effort-miss approaches. By leveraging the geometric analogy between guidance-law-generated trajectories and Dubins paths, we reformulate the derivation of zero-effort-miss-based guidance laws as a Nash equilibrium optimisation problem, with optimal strategies determined through reachable set analysis of Dubins path frontier. The resulting model is a non-convex optimisation problem, which prevents the derivation of traditional state-feedback control laws. To overcome this limitation and enable real-time implementation, we develop a custom back propagation neural network, enhanced with a relaxation factor method for output filtering, a Holt linear trend model for outlier compensation and a saturation function for oscillation suppression. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed framework significantly outperforms baseline methods. These results validate the effectiveness and robustness of our approach for high-performance TAD applications.

As global crises like inequality, climate change and financial instability intensify, ‘resilience’ has emerged as a central concept in international governance and law. The appeal lies in what scholars call the ‘resilience dividend’ – the promise that systems can recover and adapt when facing external shocks. This article critically examines how resilience has been adopted in international and transnational law, with a particular focus on transnational financial regulation. The article analyses the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)’ work on the resilience of central counterparties, which represents the most extended elaboration on resilience in transnational financial regulation. Rather than accepting resilience as an unqualified good, a more cautious approach is suggested. Resilience risks perpetuating existing injustices and reinforcing neoliberal structures by emphasising survival and adaptation over addressing the root causes of crises. Accordingly, resilience needs to be seen as an ambivalent concept that only through its specification one can determine its possible impact.

Americans increasingly confront policy messages not from high-profile political figures but from everyday citizens. Much is known about the effects of racial source cues from well-known political figures with salient racial identities. Less is known about how subtle racial cues from non-recognizable sources affect Americans’ support for policies that are race-targeted and those that are not. In this paper, I conduct a randomized experiment that varies a cue of the source’s racial identity and the type of policy for which the source advocates. I uncover little evidence for the hypothesis that subtle racial source cues activate racial attitudes that lead Americans to racialize policies that are (at least explicitly) race-neutral. I find instead that subtle cues of a Black vs. White source decrease support only for race-targeted policies. I reason that two mechanisms possibly driving this effect are: (1) subtle racial source cues become salient for only race-targeted policies, thereby activating racial stereotypes for these policies but not others, and (2) Black sources are perceived as less objective policy messengers when the policy explicitly aims to rectify injustices against Black Americans. More generally, the paper’s overall findings suggest that subtle racial cues of who advocates for race-targeted policies matter for whether such policies can garner the public support they presumably need to come to fruition.

In land use policymaking, institutions for resident participation are common but often associated with stark inequalities. We argue that the observed connection between participatory institutions and political inequality arises due to the circumstances in which participatory institutions are established – not due to participation itself. In a formal model, residents of two districts compete to oppose a locally costly (but socially beneficial) proposal. Participatory institutions allow residents to send a costly signal of their preferences to a politician. The politician only establishes participatory institutions when they are moderately biased toward one district. When extremely biased, the politician unilaterally benefits one district at the other’s expense; when sufficiently egalitarian, the politician allows each district to approve or veto projects themselves. We relate these results to the changing structure of urban politics in the wake of the Great Society. Despite justified concerns about inequalities in participation, eliminating participatory institutions may actually increase unequal policy outcomes.

While an experimental colony of rice root aphids, Rhopalosiphum rufiabdominale (Sasaki) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) was being reared, hymenopteran parasitoids found their way into the colony and caused substantial aphid mortality. We identified the parasitoids as Aphelinus varipes (Förster) (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) and further investigated the ability of A. varipes to parasitise rice root aphids and cannabis aphids, Phorodon cannabis Passerini (Hemiptera: Aphididae), both pests of commercial cannabis plants, Cannabis sativa Linnaeus (Cannabaceae). In experiments with different densities of aphid hosts, female A. varipes parasitised both rice root aphids and cannabis aphids. The rate of parasitism did not exceed 21% for either aphid species but may exceed this in unconstrained operational settings. Aphelinus varipes should be investigated further as a potential biocontrol agent of rice root aphids and cannabis aphids.

Coffee is a widely consumed beverage, which has been extensively studied for its potential effects on health. We aimed to map genetic evidence for the effect of habitual coffee consumption on health. We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and two preprint repositories from inception to 30 September 2022, and included fifty-nine studies, spanning 160 disease or biomarker associations. We evaluated the articles for certainty of evidence using a modified GRADE tool and robustness of the associations by comparing Mendelian randomisation (MR) sensitivity analyses. Coffee consumption was associated with smaller grey matter brain volume in one study, and there was probable evidence for an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and younger age of onset of Huntington’s disease. MR studies provided probable evidence for an association with increased risk of oesophageal and digestive cancers, but protective effects for hepatocellular carcinomas and ovarian cancer. We found probable evidence for increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, menopausal disorders, glaucoma, higher total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and ApoB, and lowered risk of migraines, kidney disease and gallstone disease. Future studies should aim to understand underlying mechanisms of disease, expand knowledge in non-European cohorts and develop quality assessment tools for systematic reviews of MR studies.

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration number CRD42021295323