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Governance for Urban Land Regularization in Western Maranhão, Brazil
No full textBrazil\u27s urban trends have posed major challenges to the development and implementation of socio-spatial policies, given the need to guarantee quality in the provision of public services and reduce social, spatial and economic inequalities. In this article it is analyzed challenges, technical procedures and the performance of a land regularization programme in municipalities located in the Maranhão state. The program integrates technical, legal, and social actions to address urban informality and ensure secure land tenure. Despite progress, challenges such as limited municipal capacity and persistent socio-spatial inequalities hinder broader implementation. The findings highlight the need for inclusive, adaptive policies to mitigate land insecurity, promote equity, and advance Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) in Brazil
Coupling Effects of Mexican Avocado Production with Demand in the United States: A Social-Ecological Perspective on Sustainability Concerns
No full textIn this perspective, we illustrate the major elements of the telecoupled social-ecological system that connects the production of avocados in the highlands of Mexico with demand for avocado in the United States. The social and environmental consequences along the supply chain highlighted here range from deforestation to an increase in out-migration and organized crime. Mitigation could include forest conservation practices and a shift in the production system towards ecological management. Nevertheless, these actions should also engage with initiatives fueled by consumer demand for products untarnished by environmental degradation or social injustices
The Making of Modern Agriculture: Nelson Rockefeller\u27s American International Association (AIA) in Latin America (1946–1968) by Claiton Marcio da Silva (review)
No full textMultimode nature of spacetime entanglement in QFT
No full textWe demonstrate the presence of multimode entanglement in the vacuum state of a free, massless scalar quantum field in four-dimensional flat spacetime between two sets of field modes, each contained within a spacetime region that is causally disconnected from the other. This is true despite the fact that entanglement between pairs of individual field modes is sparse and appears only when the two individual modes are carefully selected. Our results reveal that, while entanglement between individual modes is limited, bipartite multimode entanglement in quantum field theory is ubiquitous. We further argue that such multimode entanglement is operationally extractable, and it forms the basis of the entanglement commonly discussed in entanglement harvesting protocols
EP 250108a/SN 2025kg: Observations of the Most Nearby Broad-line Type Ic Supernova Following an Einstein Probe Fast X-Ray Transient
No full textWith a small sample of fast X-ray transients (FXTs) with multiwavelength counterparts discovered to date, their progenitors and connections to γ-ray bursts (GRBs) and supernovae (SNe) remain ambiguous. Here, we present photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 2025kg, the SN counterpart to the FXT EP 250108a. At z = 0.17641, this is the closest known SN discovered following an Einstein Probe (EP) FXT. We show that SN 2025kg’s optical spectra reveal the hallmark features of a broad-lined Type Ic SN. Its light-curve evolution and expansion velocities are comparable to those of GRB-SNe, including SN 1998bw, and two past FXT-SNe. We present JWST/NIRSpec spectroscopy taken around SN 2025kg’s maximum light, and find weak absorption due to He I 1.0830 μm and 2.0581 μm and a broad, unidentified emission feature at ∼4-4.5 μm. Further, we observe broadened Hα in optical data at 42.5 days that is not detected at other epochs, indicating interaction with H-rich material. From its light curve, we derive a 56Ni mass of 0.2-0.6 M⊙. Together with our companion Letter, our broadband data are consistent with a trapped or low-energy (≲1051 erg) jet-driven explosion from a collapsar with a zero-age main-sequence mass of 15-30 M⊙. Finally, we show that the sample of EP FXT-SNe supports past estimates that low-luminosity jets seen through FXTs are more common than successful (GRB) jets, and that similar FXT-like signatures are likely present in at least a few percent of the brightest Type Ic-BL SNe
Systematic study of isoscalar giant resonances in Sm 148,150,152,154 using the extended interacting boson model
No full textAn extended interacting boson model incorporating one-particle-one-hole (1p-1h) excitations to the next nearest shell and configuration mixing due to two-particle-two-hole (2p-2h) excitations from the nearest lower shell is applied to systematically describe the low-lying spectra and isoscalar giant monopole and quadrupole resonances (ISGMR and ISGQR) of the well-deformed nuclei Sm148,150,152,154. The model results are compared with experimental data and with those of the consistent-Q formalism that includes 1p-1h excitations but lacks 2p-2h configuration mixing. The extended model shows improved agreement with both low-lying spectral properties and high-lying excitations associated with ISGMR and ISGQR compared to the original consistent-Q formalism. Furthermore, the X(5) critical point features are not only evident in the low-lying level energies and corresponding B(E2) ratios, but also reflected in the effective charge parameters and excitation energies associated with 1p-1h excitations
Navigating the Math Mind: The latest in Math Mind Measures Development
Get PDFThis presentation updated the psychometric analyses of the Math Mind Measures (MMM) scale at the Annual AIMS Winter Convening, sponsored by the Gates Foundation. Researchers presented information about the long form, short form, brief scales, and the parallel versions of the MMM. One highlight of the presentation included the unveiling of the MMM: A User Guide, which is available at https://repository.lsu.edu/srec_reports/16
A targeted genetic screen identifies Caenorhabditis elegans genes involved in RNAi-independent antiviral defense
No full textCellular organisms are constantly challenged by potentially lethal viral infections and rely on diverse antiviral mechanisms for survival. In several systems, including plants and insects, parallel antiviral pathways provide redundancy, ensuring host protection even if one pathway is compromised by a virus. However, whether such alternative antiviral mechanisms exist in nematodes beyond RNA interference (RNAi) remains largely unexplored. To address this question and as proof of principle, we conducted a small-scale genetic screen to identify C. elegans genes involved in RNAi-independent antiviral defense (RiAD). The reporter system for this screen was a combination of a GFP-tagged flock house virus replicon, as the readout of efficient viral replication, and an RNAi-deficient triple mutant. The reporter C. elegans strain also carried a recessive E3 allele, which suppresses the replication of both flock house virus and Orsay virus. Because this reporter strain lacks a functional RNAi response, any restoration of viral replication in the screen is unlikely due to RNAi disruption, thereby enriching for mutants with defects in RiAD. Upon completing this biased genetic screen we identified ten recessive alleles which were assigned to eight candidate genes. Notably, five of these genes also contributed to RiAD against Orsay virus, indicating a role in broad-spectrum natural antiviral defense. Strikingly, removal of the E3 allele in one of the mutant backgrounds resulted in lethal Orsay virus infection, suggesting that RiAD plays a critical role in protecting C. elegans from fatal viral infection in the absence of RNAi under natural conditions
Light cues drive community-wide transcriptional shifts in the hypersaline South Bay Salt Works
Get PDFThe transition from day to night brings sweeping change to both environments and the organisms within them. Diel shifts in gene expression have been documented across all domains of life but remain understudied in microbial communities, particularly those in extreme environments where small changes may have rippling effects on resource availability. In hypersaline environments, many prominent taxa are photoheterotrophs that rely on organic carbon for growth but can also generate significant ATP via light-powered rhodopsins. Previous research demonstrated a significant response to light intensity shifts in the model halophile Halobacterium salinarum, but these cycles have rarely been explored in situ. Here, we examined genome-resolved differential expression in a hypersaline saltern (water activity (aw)≅0.83, total dissolved solids = 250.7 g L−1) throughout a 24-h period. We found increased transcription of genes related to phototrophy and anabolic metabolic processes during the day, while genes related to aerobic respiration and oxidative stress were upregulated at night. Substantiating these results with a chemostat culture of the environmentally abundant halophilic bacterium Salinibacter ruber revealed similar transcriptional upregulation of genes associated with aerobic respiration under dark conditions. These results describe the potential for light-driven changes in oxygen use across both a natural hypersaline environment and a pure culture
CULTURAL SYNTHESIS IN IRANIAN GRAPHIC DESIGN: A FUSION OF TRADITION AND MODERNITY
No full textThis thesis examines Iranian graphic design as a politically embedded and semiotically charged field wherein visual form operates as a site of ideological negotiation, cultural memory, and symbolic resistance. Focusing on the works of Ghobad Shiva and Morteza Momayez, the study situates graphic design within the sociopolitical constraints of the Pahlavi monarchy and the post-1979 Islamic Republic. It argues that Iranian design practices cannot be understood outside the country’s enduring identity crisis—shaped by the unresolved tension between three coexisting cultural strata: ancient Persian heritage, Islamic civilizational identity, and Western modernity. Drawing on the work of Edward Said, the thesis also critiques how Pahlavi-era modernization internalized Orientalist discourses, equating Westernization with progress and framing indigenous aesthetics as backward or obsolete.
Rather than treating graphic design as decorative or apolitical, this research frames it as a form of epistemic labor—one shaped by authoritarian constraint, symbolic erasure, and visual control. Through close analysis of posters, logos, and typographic systems, the study shows how Shiva and Momayez mobilized indigenous scripts and ornamental vocabularies to reassert pluralist Iranian identity within state-sanctioned formats.
The thesis draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, Antonio Gramsci’s cultural hegemony, and Roland Barthes’ semiotics to analyze how design becomes a space of coded resistance. It challenges Western-dominated design histories and calls for a decolonial framework that recognizes practices forged under opacity and constraint. Ultimately, the study reinterprets Iranian graphic design as a language of survival and subversion—a visual archive through which suppressed identities persist, cultural memory is reactivated, and dissent is encoded within the contested surfaces of modernity