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A comparison of the meridional meandering of extratropical precipitation during boreal winter: eddy momentum flux versus Eulerian storm tracks
No full textThe latitudinal distribution of winter extratropical precipitation is often regarded as being determined by the location and intensity of the storm track. Here, we compare the precipitation variability associated with the meridional eddy momentum flux (EMF) with that associated with an Eulerian storm track measure. Observations show that when the midlatitude EMF is anomalously poleward, the occurrence of moderate-to-heavy precipitation (1–33 mm day-1) increases between 45°N and 70°N, while decreasing between 25°N and 45°N. This shift occurs mostly downstream of the climatological storm track maximum, with generally greater precipitation anomalies compared to those associated with storm track changes. The shift is tied to changes in horizontal moisture transport primarily by planetary scale waves. These results suggest that, in addition to the storm track intensity, dynamics of the horizontal wave tilts which affect the EMF intensity need to be considered when projecting future changes in precipitation variability.C Y and S L were supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea through grant RS 2023 00219006 C Y was also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea through grant RS 2024 00333469 and by the Specialized University Program for Confluence Analysis of Weather and Climate Data of the Korea Meteorological Institute S L also acknowledges support by U S National Science Foundation AGS 2343772https://www.nature.com/articles/s41612-025-00992-
I Hate the News Mar 11
No full textLocal area Democrats protest cuts to National Institutes of Health. Does OPM’s revised guidance on firing probationary federal employees reveal cracks in the Trump Administration? Montgomery County State’s Attorney reassures residents that ICE enforcement in Maryland is limited. Charles Koiner Conservancy’s urban farm at Loiderman Middle School offers a new path to farming education and community engagement. Prince George’s County State’s Attorney likely to be the new county executive. Music by Washington DC area composer Anna Rubin.https://open.spotify.com/episode/5prbqARfFWA04HiZPCE2o
Impact of the Introduced Rainbow Darter, Etheostoma caeruleum on the Microhabitat Use of Native Darters
No full textThe Rainbow darter, Etheostoma caeruleum is an introduced species that has spread rapidly in the Potomac River drainage. However, the reason for this rapid spread and the impact of E. caeruleum on other species of both native and nonnative darters has not been determined. This study examines how the abundance E. caeruleum affects the microhabitat use of E. blennioides, E. flabellare, and E. olmstedi within the Monocacy River drainage. Snorkeling was used as a method to observe and measure the microhabitat use of darters across eight locations. Sites where E. caeruleum were present had significantly low population levels of E. olmstedi. E. flabellare experienced a habitat shift towards habitats with larger substrates, increased depths, and slower bottom velocities with an increasing proportion of E. caeruleum. The microhabitat use of E. blennioides remained consistent across all sites, regardless of the relative abundance of E. caeruleum. This study suggests E. caeruleum are outcompeting native species, specifically E. flabellare, for their preferred habitat
Simulating Impacts of Electron Precipitation on Mars' Nightside Ionosphere With an Empirical Model
No full textWith the aim of improving global simulations of the Martian ionosphere, we present an empirical model of 137 electron impact processes—including ionization, dissociation, and excitation—on the nightside of Mars, based on MAVEN in situ data collected between 2014 and 2019. The empirical model demonstrates the significant impact magnetic field conditions have on nightside ionization rates, with different magnetic topologies reversing trends previously seen in ionization dependence on magnetic field strength: closed field lines on the nightside show a decrease in ionization with stronger fields, while topologies where field lines connect to a source of plasma at one or both ends show an increase of ionization with stronger fields. This empirical model is coupled with magnetic fields from MHD simulations of the Martian magnetosphere, as input to the PCM-Mars and M-GITM thermosphere-ionosphere models, to provide a source of ionization on the nightside. Finally, we present new simulations of the global ionosphere with ionization sources on both the dayside and, for the first time, the nightside.M Marquette and R Lillis are supported by and would like to thank the MAVEN mission and the NASA Solar System Workings Program Grant 80NSSC20K1042 D Pawlowski is also supported in part by NASA SSWP Grant 80NSSC20K1042 JY Chaufray is supported by CNES and by the French Programme National de Planetologie PNP and the Programme National SoleilTerre PNST Contributions to this work from M Benna and M Elrod are supported by NASA under award number 80GSFC21M0002https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2025JE00895
Support Vector Machine for Predicting Student Dropout Under Different Normalization Methods
No full text2024 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (BigData), Washington, DC, USA, 15-18 December 2024Student dropout in universities brings significant challenges that impacts both individual futures and institutional effectiveness. Early prediction of potential dropouts is crucial for timely intervention, but it is complex because of the nature of the problem influenced by diverse socioeconomic factors. This paper utlizies Support Vector Machines (SVMs) to predict student dropout with an emphasis on exploring the efficacy of various data normalization methods to optimize prediction accuracy. Using a dataset from the UC Irvine repository, this study compares 9 different normalization techniques such as Min Max Scaler, Standard Scaler, and Power Transformer, among others, to determine their impact on the predictive performance of SVMs. Results demonstrate substantial variations in model accuracy depending on the normalization method used to show the importance of detailed selection of data preprocessing techniques. The best normalization method was the One Hot Scaler which produced an average F1 score of 0.779. This work enhances the ability to identify at-risk students earlier but also the understanding of how data normalization influences predictive modeling in educational settings.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1082502
The presence of chemical cues likely alters motivation, rather than perception of weak visual cues
No full textAnimals encounter information simultaneously, combining input from multiple sensory systems before responding behaviorally. When cues in different sensory modalities interact, they may have direct impacts on sensory perception, allowing the animal to perceive stimuli that it would otherwise have missed, or the cues may instead impact motivation, tightly honing the animal's focus onto a stimulus or distracting it. Here, we investigated how interacting chemical and visual cues affected behavior in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Chemical cues can enhance the visual perception of zebrafish directly, for example, through the terminal nerve axons of the olfactory bulb that project to the neural retina. Alternatively, chemical cues may increase attention to or distract individuals from visual cues. Furthermore, the salience or strength of each cue may determine how the animal responds. Specifically, we tested if the reflexive response to an optomotor response (OMR) visual cue differed when presented with alanine, an amino acid that mimics foraging chemical cues, to explore if cues in a second sensory modality can affect reflexive responses. We found that foraging chemical cues did not affect zebrafish's likelihood of responding to the visual cue, and thus likely did not affect perception of visual cues. However, fish took longer to respond to visual cues in the presence of chemical cues, and that this delayed response was significant only when the visual cue was weak. These findings suggest that the primary effect of secondary sensory cues may be through shifts in motivation rather than perception. We also found that the relative significance (salience) of interacting cues has important implications on determining the outcomes of sensory interactions.This work was funded by National Science Foundation grants IOS-1257562 and DEB-1802296 to E.P.M.https://academic.oup.com/icb/advance-article/doi/10.1093/icb/icaf152/824262
Do LLMs Adhere to Label Definitions? Examining Their Receptivity to External Label Definitions
No full textThe 2025 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing (EMNLP 2025),November 4th - 9th, 2025,Suzhou, ChinaDo LLMs genuinely incorporate external definitions, or do they primarily rely on their parametric knowledge? To address these questions, we conduct controlled experiments across multiple explanation benchmark datasets (general and domain-specific) and label definition conditions, including expert-curated, LLM-generated, perturbed, and swapped definitions. Our results reveal that while explicit label definitions can enhance accuracy and explainability, their integration into an LLM's task-solving processes is neither guaranteed nor consistent, suggesting reliance on internalized representations in many cases. Models often default to their internal representations, particularly in general tasks, whereas domain-specific tasks benefit more from explicit definitions. These findings underscore the need for a deeper understanding of how LLMs process external knowledge alongside their pre-existing capabilities.http://arxiv.org/abs/2509.0245
Analysis of land surface temperature and vegetation trends across major Indochina urban centers
No full textThis study investigates long-term trends in Land Surface Temperature (LST) and vegetation cover in four rapidly urbanizing cities of the Indochina peninsula. These cities include Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Vientiane, and Phnom Penh, and the analysis covers a 30-year period. The objective is to understand how urban expansion has influenced local climate and vegetation dynamics. Using Landsat satellite imagery and the cloud-based computing platform, Google Earth Engine, the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and LST were estimated and analyzed. The Mann–Kendall (MK) non-parametric statistical trend test was applied to identify significant temporal trends and it’s spatial variation. This study stands out by analyzing 30 years of satellite data to examine changes in LST and vegetation across multiple cities. Unlike earlier research, it also considers how these environmental changes affect population exposure, providing a more complete picture of urban growth impacts. Results reveal consistent increases in LST and declines in vegetation across all cities, with strong spatial correlation in urbanized zones. A notable inverse relationship was observed between EVI and LST, indicating that vegetation loss contributes significantly to local warming. The Mekong River plays a moderating role in Vientiane and Phnom Penh, showing a cooling effect in its immediate surroundings while stabilizing vegetation trends. Population exposure to LST changes was assessed by overlaying trend results with population data. Findings show that approximately 34.84% of the combined urban population, totaling over 9.3 million people, reside in areas with significant surface temperature increases. Among the four cities, Phnom Penh showed the highest affected percentage, while Vientiane had the lowest. These findings underscore the critical need for climate-resilient urban planning and the expansion of green infrastructure to mitigate the impacts of urban heat islands in Indochina’s fast-growing cities.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44288-025-00260-
Axiology, Reflexivity, and Influence in Participatory Psychology Research
No full textInvestigations into participatory research practice trends have revealed significant variations in how participatory research is described and perceived by those involved. Participatory research projects differ in who is included as a research “partner,” when and to what extent each partner has the power to influence research activities, and the information reported about the participatory methods in published articles (Cargo & Mercer, 2008; Vaughn & Jacquez, 2020; Macaulay, 2017; Mosurska & Ford, 2020; Wallerstein & Duran, 2018). While practical challenges likely contribute to some of these variations, other differences may arise from the values driving each research partner’s choices during the research process (i.e. their axiology) and the extent to which partners are engaging in individual and collective reflexivity (Cargo & Mercer, 2008; Chiu, 2006; Cordeiro & Soares, 2018; Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017; Lincoln et al., 2018; Wallerstein & Duran, 2018). Participatory research practices may also vary among academic partners with training in different academic disciplines. Few studies have collected data from psychologists about their participatory practices, and even fewer studies have attempted to measure reflexivity and axiology among participatory researchers. This study surveyed psychologists and their community partners about their experiences contributing to participatory research studies described in articles published between 2015 and 2020. The survey included previously established measures of partners’ power to influence research activities, as well as novel measures of reflexivity and axiology. The findings indicated that psychologists and other academic partners had significantly more influence over research choices compared to their community partners. Community and academic partners also rated the balance of power differently, with academic partners rating the influence of community partners higher than the community partners themselves did. Lastly, it appeared that reflexivity was associated with multiple other variables. Individual reflection about specific questions was associated with research partners’ axiologies, and collective reflexivity was associated with increased ratings of community influence. These significant trends suggest a need for further reflection and study surrounding the ideals that participatory psychology researchers strive for and the extent to which our participatory practices align
Neuro-Symbolic AI for Cybersecurity: State of the Art, Challenges, and Opportunities
No full textTraditional Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches in cybersecurity exhibit fundamental limitations: inadequate conceptual grounding leading to non-robustness against novel attacks; limited instructibility impeding analyst-guided adaptation; and misalignment with cybersecurity objectives. Neuro-Symbolic (NeSy) AI has emerged with the potential to revolutionize cybersecurity AI. However, there is no systematic understanding of this emerging approach. These hybrid systems address critical cybersecurity challenges by combining neural pattern recognition with symbolic reasoning, enabling enhanced threat understanding while introducing concerning autonomous offensive capabilities that reshape threat landscapes. In this survey, we systematically characterize this field by analyzing 127 publications spanning 2019-July 2025. We introduce a Grounding-Instructibility-Alignment (G-I-A) framework to evaluate these systems, focusing on both cyber defense and cyber offense across network security, malware analysis, and cyber operations. Our analysis shows advantages of multi-agent NeSy architectures and identifies critical implementation challenges including standardization gaps, computational complexity, and human-AI collaboration requirements that constrain deployment. We show that causal reasoning integration is the most transformative advancement, enabling proactive defense beyond correlation-based approaches. Our findings highlight dual-use implications where autonomous systems demonstrate substantial capabilities in zero-day exploitation while achieving significant cost reductions, altering threat dynamics. We provide insights and future research directions, emphasizing the urgent need for community-driven standardization frameworks and responsible development practices that ensure advancement serves defensive cybersecurity objectives while maintaining societal alignment.http://arxiv.org/abs/2509.0692