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Tropical volcanic eruptions enhance Pacific-driven global tropical cyclone genesis
Get PDFWhether, and to what extent, strong tropical volcanic eruptions (TVEs) affect global tropical cyclone (TC) genesis frequency (TCGF) remains uncertain. Here, we address this issue using both high-resolution reanalysis data and large ensemble simulations. We find a significant increase in TCGF over the Pacific within two years following TVEs, while a statistically insignificant decrease over the South Indian Ocean, leading to an overall increase in global TCGF driven mainly by Pacific basin responses. Strong TVEs suppress precipitation over the Maritime Continent and lower global mean sea surface temperature (SST), while inducing warming in the equatorial central Pacific, resulting in an El Niño-like SST pattern. These anomalies weaken the Walker Circulation and drive low-level westerly wind and upper-level easterly wind anomalies over the tropical Pacific, creating favorable conditions for enhanced Pacific TCGF. These results offer new insights into how TVEs influence tropical cyclone activity on both global and regional scales
Exile and diasporic memory activism in Colombian women’s writing
Get PDFThis article explores how, in the context of the country’s most recent peace process, Colombian women memory activists have challenged the erasure of Colombian exile from both narratives of Colombian political violence and the wider scholarship on Latin American exile. Focusing on creative forms of memory activism deployed by the writer, Fabiola Calvo Ocampo, and the collective Mujer Diáspora, the article analyses how their individual and collective literary-testimonies contest the negation of their victimhood in Colombia and intervene in disputes over the meaning of exile in the Colombian context. Yet, while making visible the trauma of exile, the article shows how these creative texts also seek to move beyond dominant theoretical representations of the woman exile as being liberated from the nation, or nostalgically yearning for it, to instead configure her as an activist subject
Peer effects of star-analysts’ departure: new evidence from China
No full textThis paper examines how the departure of star analysts influences the performance of their non-star peers. Using manually collected data from China, we observe that non-star analysts enhance their forecast accuracy after a star analyst leaves. This effect is particularly pronounced when non-star analysts have previously worked within hierarchical teams or when the departing star analyst held significant internal resources within the brokerage. Additionally, the performance improvements are more substantial in environments with greater promotion opportunities and in brokerages characterized by a collective organizational culture. To establish causality, we leverage the suspension and subsequent reform of the star analyst voting system as an exogenous shock. A difference-in-difference analysis demonstrates that brokerages more affected by this shock exhibit larger improvements in analyst forecast accuracy. These findings offer new insights into the celebrity effect, highlighting how changes in team structure and internal competition influence analyst performance
Detecting changes in GARCH(1,1) processes without assuming stationarity
Get PDFThis paper develops a new test to detect changes in GARCH(1,1) processes without imposing a stationary assumption. Specifically, the procedure tests the null hypothesis of a GARCH process with constant parameters, either in (strictly) stationary or explosive regimes, against the alternative hypothesis of parameter changes. We derive the limiting distribution of the test statistics and establish their asymptotic consistency. Monte Carlo simulations show that the proposed test has good size control and high power. We demonstrate a prototype application on a small group of stocks and report a further extensive application to more than ten thousand U.S. stocks
Subclinically depressed individuals showed less trust after a night of sleep deprivation
Get PDFInsufficient sleep’s impact on cognitive and emotional function is well-documented, but its effects on social functioning remain understudied. This research investigates the influence of depressive symptoms on the relationship between sleep deprivation (SD) and social decision-making. Forty-two young adults were randomly assigned to either the SD or sleep control (SC) group. The SD group stayed awake in the laboratory, while the SC group had a normal night’s sleep at home. During the subsequent morning, participants completed a Trust Game (TG) in which a higher monetary offer distributed by them indicated more trust toward their partners. They also completed an Ultimatum Game (UG) in which a higher acceptance rate indicated more rational decision-making. The results revealed that depressive symptoms significantly moderated the effect of SD on trust in the TG. However, there was no interaction between group and depressive symptoms found in predicting acceptance rates in the UG. This study demonstrates that individuals with higher levels of depressive symptoms display less trust after SD, highlighting the role of depressive symptoms in modulating the impact of SD on social decision-making. Future research should explore sleep-related interventions targeting the psychosocial dysfunctions of individuals with depression
Development of mucoadhesive vaginal films with metronidazole using Poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) – Polycarbophil blends via hot melt extrusion
Get PDFMucoadhesive vaginal films are increasingly regarded as a versatile platform for local drug delivery, offering prolonged mucosal retention, ease of administration, and enhanced bioavailability. In this study, vaginal films based on blends of poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (POZ) and polycarbophil (PC) were developed and characterized, incorporating metronidazole as a poorly soluble antimicrobial drug. The films were prepared using hot-melt extrusion. Their physicochemical and mechanical properties, mucoadhesive performance, and ex vivo retention on the mucosal surface were studied Particular attention was given to the effects of polymer ratio and plasticizer content on these characteristics. Key findings revealed that incorporating polycarbophil into POZ-based films significantly enhanced mucoadhesive strength, particularly in formulations containing glycerol as a plasticizer, which provided improved flexibility and adhesion. In ex vivo studies using sheep vaginal mucosa, POZ/PC films exhibited strong retention, with the POZ/PC (80:20) formulation showing significantly longer adhesion under simulated physiological fluid flow. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis confirmed partial amorphization of metronidazole in the films, reducing its crystallinity from 100 % to ∼ 65–70 %. Additionally, the films provided sustained drug release and demonstrated notable antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and E. coli
Disabled childhoods in children’s literature
No full textChild characters who are chronically or terminally ill or have a range of mental or physical differences have been a key feature of children’s literature since its inception as a genre in the eighteenth century due both to the prevalence of childhood mortality and morbidity before the advent of modern hygiene and medicine and to religious and moral issues attached to the child. These characters have been the subject of critical discussions from early on in the study of children’s literature, although “disability” was not necessarily designated as a specific or separate topic. A central question in this respect is what exactly counts as “disability” and how this is identified in texts. For as with all issues of identity -- including “childhood” itself -- historical and cultural definitions shift and change, so that a retrospective account of those identities must decide either to re-define prior claims or simply to start only at the point at which the contemporary nomenclature is introduced. Yet it would seem strange to ignore the many ideas of childhood illness or mental or physical difference that occur in children’s literature from its earliest days; recent expansions in the definitions and diagnoses of disabilities also mean that the past may no longer be seen to be the more affected era in this respect. This means that in this entry, some references must be included which do not actually mention “disability” as such, nor list it as a term in their indices, for instance, but which instead have a bearing on these very issues of historical classification and judgement. In fact, it can also be argued that these difficulties after all persist to the present day, for “disability” still spans a wide range of ongoingly differing ideas and judgements, including for instance chronic illness, developmental disorders, learning difficulties and mental and physical disabilities: indeed, the very concept of dis/ability itself can be and is questioned. The way that disability and childhood are identified in (children’s) literature therefore relates importantly to key questions for all wider literary and disability theory: first in that this identification most often relies on a model of reading that draws on the idea of “representation” (the concept that (literary) texts describe “real life” characteristics) and, second, because the differing definitions of “disability” rely on different ideas about the roles that the individual, society and medicine may each play in generating such definitions and judgements
The interplay between cultural models and metaphor understanding: a cross-cultural cognitive perspective
Get PDFIn cross-cultural communication, accurate metaphor comprehension enhances mutual understanding and facilitates effective cooperation among individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. This paper adopts a cross-cultural cognitive perspective and employs grounded theory as the methodological framework to analyze how cultural models influence metaphor understanding. Through a coding analysis of 148 domestic and international texts, the study constructs a four-element model comprising thinking patterns, cognitive frameworks, language communication, and social consensus. Thinking patterns shape cognitive frameworks, which are articulated and transmitted through language communication, ultimately contributing to the formation of social consensus within cultural groups. These four interrelated elements work together to support deeper and more accurate metaphor comprehension in intercultural contexts. By integrating theory with empirical analysis, this study offers a novel conceptual framework for future research on metaphor in cross-cultural communication
Controls of the global overturning circulation of the ocean
Get PDFThe global overturning circulation (GOC) is the largest scale component of the ocean circulation, associated with a global redistribution of key tracers such as heat and carbon. The GOC generates decadal to millennial climate variability, and will determine much of the long-term response to anthropogenic climate perturbations. This review aims at providing an overview of the main controls of the GOC. By controls, we mean processes affecting the overturning structure and variability. We distinguish three main controls: mechanical mixing, convection, and wind pumping. Geography provides an additional control on geological timescales. An important emphasis of this review is to present how the different controls interact with each other to produce an overturning flow, making this review relevant to the study of past, present and future climates as well as to exoplanets’ oceans