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Relative roles of different tropical oceans on the weakening of the stratospheric equatorial quasi-biennial oscillation
No full textThe Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) is the dominant mode of tropical stratospheric variability that modulates global circulation and climate. Although a long-term weakening of QBO amplitude has been observed under global warming, the relative roles of different tropical oceans remain unclear. We perform sensitivity experiments forced by sea surface temperature perturbations over the tropical Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, as well as their combined warming, to separate individual and joint effects. Pacific warming produces the strongest weakening and slowest descent of the QBO, whereas Atlantic warming slightly strengthens the amplitude and extends the vertical structure. Indian Ocean warming slightly weakens the amplitude and accelerates the descent. When all three oceans warm simultaneously, the QBO exhibits a weaker amplitude and faster descent, consistent in sign with the combined single-basin responses but with a reduced magnitude owing to diminished zonal and inter-basin SST gradients. Momentum budget analyses further show that basin-dependent competition between equatorial wave forcing and tropical upwelling underlies these contrasting responses
Trait‐Based Prediction of Extinction Risk and Conservation Strategy for Traditional Chinese Medicinal Plants in China
No full textSummary: Many plants, including those used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), are vital for human health and commerce but face increasing threats from human activities and climate change. However, many species have not been formally assessed for extinction risk, making it difficult to prioritize conservation efforts. We created a database of 580 TCM plant species and used predictive models to identify factors that contribute to extinction risk. We found that plants with smaller geographic distributions, narrower elevational ranges, shorter growth forms, and those harvested for parts other than fruits or seeds were more likely to be at risk. Among 95 species lacking formal assessments, 16 were predicted to be threatened. Our study also highlighted provinces such as Guangxi and Guangdong as emerging hotspots for at‐risk medicinal plants. These findings emphasize the need for urgent conservation actions to protect vulnerable TCM plants and fill critical protection gaps
Dengue transmission heterogeneity across Indonesia’s archipelago: Climate-driven spatiotemporal patterns and policy implications
No full textIndonesia has the highest dengue burden in Southeast Asia, with 488 of 514 districts reporting cases annually across its 17,000-island archipelago. Despite this substantial burden, spatiotemporal transmission patterns remain poorly characterised. We analysed province-level dengue surveillance data (2010–2024) from Indonesia’s Ministry of Health alongside local and regional climate variables to characterise heterogeneity in dengue periodicity and identify provinces where climate-based early warning may be feasible. Using wavelet phase analysis, dynamic time warping clustering, and distributed lag non-linear models, we examined relationships between climate and dengue incidence across 34 provinces. A systematic west-to-east gradient in dengue wave timing was identified, with Northern Sumatran provinces peaking earlier than other provinces, aligning with Australian-Asian monsoon progression. This gradient was robust in western Indonesia (Spearman ρ = 0.7 between longitude and phase lag) but weakened in eastern provinces. Multi-annual outbreak peaks (2015–2016, 2023–2024) coincided with strong El Niño events, with mean incidence during strong El Niño years was 96% higher than other years. The Indian Ocean Dipole showed no significant association. Phase coherence analysis identified 18 provinces where precipitation-dengue timing was sufficiently consistent (coherence ≥0.85) for potential early warning applications and DLNM confirmed significant dose-response associations in 11 of these. Indonesia’s dengue-climate relationships exhibit structured heterogeneity that precludes uniform national prediction approaches but may enable province-specific early warning in high-coherence areas. A two-tier system combining ENSO monitoring for strategic preparedness with local climate monitoring for tactical intervention timing could improve outbreak response across Indonesia’s diverse epidemiological landscapes
CD138 expression in the endometrium associates with endometrial timing and inflammatory status but not microbiota composition
No full textSTUDY QUESTION: What is the relationship between constitutive CD138 expression in the endometrium and the reproductive tract microbiota composition? SUMMARY ANSWER: The presence of CD138+ cells in endometrial stroma is cycle-dependent and associated with impaired luteal phase endometrial timing but not altered vaginal or endometrial microbial composition. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: CD138-diagnosed chronic endometritis (CE) is associated with adverse reproductive outcomes including recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) in uncontrolled studies. However, CD138 is constitutively expressed in the endometrium, potentially confounding the reported associations between CE, adverse endometrial function, and early pregnancy loss. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: Translational cohort study of a subset of 103 samples derived from 737 women embedded within the CERM trial, a double-blinded, randomized interventional trial evaluating the impact of pre-pregnancy antibiotic treatment for CE in RPL patients. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Women aged ≥18 to 200 CD138-positive stromal cells/10 mm2) in 26 out of 27 proliferative endometrial samples. While CD138 immunoreactivity in the stroma declines markedly following ovulation (Mann–Whitney U-test; P < 0.005), gene expression analysis demonstrated a reduction in SDC1 expression encoding CD138/syndecan-1, across the menstrual cycle. When compared to CD138-negative samples, conspicuous diffuse staining in the stromal compartment was associated with significantly earlier endometrial histological dating (P < 0.01) and lower molecular timing ratios (P < 0.01). Poor correlation between CD138 and immunoreactivity was demonstrated. Sequencing of paired vaginal and ectocervical swabs and endometrial Tao brush samples collected from 114 patients demonstrated tightly interconnected microbial composition throughout the reproductive tract. No significant difference in vaginal, ectocervical, or endometrial community state type with CD138 expression was demonstrated. Analysis of supernatants of vaginal and ectocervical swabs and Tao Brush revealed an inverse correlation between the severity of stromal CD138 immunoreactivity in endometrial stroma and secreted levels of IL-10, TNF-α, and VEGF (q < 0.05). LARGE SCALE DATA: Microbial and Metataxonomic raw data are available in the European Nucleotide Archive (Projects PRJEB83331 and PRJEB83332). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: This study relied on patient-reported ovulation-based timing. This was, however, associated with the provision of validated ovulation tests. In addition, the study is limited by lack of collection of data on the underlying fertility-related co-morbidities due to exclusion of known contributory co-morbidities at the point of recruitment. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: This study challenges the purported relationship between CD138+ CE and the pathophysiology of CE-associated RPL. The findings indicate endometrial CD138 levels are non-immune and non-bacterial driven and are associated with endometrial immaturity. CD138-based CE testing and treatment should not be performed outside of a research context. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): Funding was provided by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme a National Institute for Health and Care Research and Medical Research Council partnership (17/60/22). Further funding was from Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research, and the Imperial National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre Pregnancy and Prematurity Theme. G.D.S.C. is supported by the Genesis Research Trust. All authors report no direct conflict of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN23947730
Algebraic closure of matrix sets recognized by 1-VASS
No full textIt is known how to compute the Zariski closure of a finitely generated monoid of matrices and, more generally, of a set of matrices specified by a regular language. This result was recently used to give a procedure to compute all polynomial invariants of a given affine program. Decidability of the more general problem of computing all polynomial invariants of affine programs with recursive procedure calls remains open. Mathematically speaking, the core challenge is to compute the Zariski closure of a set of matrices defined by a context-free language. In this paper, we approach the problem from two sides: Towards decidability, we give a procedure to compute the Zariski closure of sets of matrices given by one-counter languages (that is, languages accepted by one-dimensional vector addition systems with states and zero tests), a proper subclass of context-free languages. On the other side, we show that the problem becomes undecidable for indexed languages, a natural extension of context-free languages corresponding to nested pushdown automata. One of our main technical tools is a novel adaptation of Simon’s factorization forests to infinite monoids of matrices
Excavating Andersson: unlocking forgotten treasures in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (MFEA), Stockholm
Get PDFThis project investigates archaeological material from northwest China collected in the 1920s which is housed at the MFEA. We catalogue finds and archival materials to learn about the original excavation contexts and excavators. We also study ceramics and animal bones to examine cultural interactions during the Neolithic and Bronze Age
El oppidum del Cerro del Gollino (Corral de Almaguer, Toledo): Estudio del material recuperado en la campaña de excavación de 2024: The oppidum of Cerro del Gollino (Corral de Almaguer, Toledo). Study of the materials documented in the archaeological excavation of 2024
No full textEn este artículo se presenta el estudio de los materiales documentados en el transcurso de la campaña de excavación arqueológica desarrollada durante el verano de 2024 en el Cerro del Gollino (Corral de Almaguer, Toledo). Este yacimiento es uno de los oppida más importantes del área carpetana, no obstante, los únicos trabajos arqueológicos desarrollados en el mismo se remontaban a mediados de los años 1980. Los materiales cerámicos recuperados en 2024 han podido ser clasificados siguiendo la tipología de Mata y Bonet para el ámbito ibérico. A esto se suma la presencia de determinadas importaciones mediterráneas como cerámicas de barniz negro y cerámicas de paredes finas. Todo ello indica una ocupación del sitio entre finales del siglo III a. C. hasta mediados-finales del siglo I a. C. Las características de los hallazgos nos permiten plantear alternativas en relación con algunas interpretaciones tradicionales de la Segunda Edad del Hierro en la región.This article presents the study of the materials documented during the archaeological excavation conducted in the summer of 2024 at Cerro del Gollino (Corral de Almaguer, Toledo). This site is one of the main oppida in the territory of the Carpetani, however, the only archaeological fieldwork carried out there dated back to the middle of the 1980s. The pottery recovered in 2024 has been classified following Mata and Bonet’s typology for the Iberian area. To this we can add the presence of some Mediterranean imports such as black glaze pottery and thin-walled pottery. All this indicates an occupation of the site between the late 3rd and the mid- to late 1st centuries BC. The characteristics of the findings also allow us to present alternatives in relation to some traditional interpretations about the Late Iron Age in the region
First explore, then settle: a theoretical analysis of evolvability as a driver of adaptation
No full textEvolvability is defined as the ability of a population to generate heritable variation to facilitate its adaptation to new environments or selection pressures. In this article, we consider evolvability as a phenotypic trait subject to evolution and discuss its implications in the adaptation of populations of asexual individuals. We explore the evolutionary dynamics of an actively proliferating population of individuals, subject to changes in their proliferative potential and their evolvability, through mathematical simulations of a stochastic individual-based model and its deterministic continuum counterpart. We find robust adaptive trajectories that rely on individuals with high evolvability rapidly exploring the phenotypic landscape and reaching the proliferative potential with the highest fitness. The strength of selection on the proliferative potential, and the cost associated with evolvability, can alter these trajectories such that, if both are sufficiently constraining, highly evolvable populations can become extinct in our individualbased model simulations. We explore the impact of this interaction at various scales, discussing its effects in undisturbed environments and also in disrupted contexts, such as cancer
Effects of explicit phonetic instruction in shaping L2 perceptual cue weighting: evidence from English /i:/-/ɪ/
No full textPurpose: This study examined how Chinese L2 learners of English weight vowel duration and spectral cues in the English /i:/-/ɪ/ contrast at both the group and individual levels. It further explored the role of explicit phonetic instruction from correlational and causal perspectives. Finally, it investigated whether the benefits of training were uniform across learners or varied according to individual differences.Method: The current research adopted a pre-post design with 48 Mandarin-speaking L2 English learners randomly assigned to a control group (N = 23) and an experimental group (N = 25). In the pretest and posttest, both groups completed a forced-choice identification task using synthesized ‘bead-bid’ continua co-varying in spectral and temporal dimensions. Between the pre and posttest, the experimental group received explicit phonetic instruction designed to raise their metalinguistic awareness of how vowel spectrum and duration functionally differentiate/i:/ and /ɪ/. Results: At pretest, at a group level, participants primarily relied on duration, though individual variability was substantial and aligned with the perceptual learning stages posited by the Second Language Linguistic Perception model (L2LP) (Escudero, 2000, 2005). Explicit instruction reduced reliance on duration in the experimental group, while both groups increased reliance of the spectral cue. Instructional benefits varied across individuals: learners with initially more balanced cue use and those with prior immersion experience were more likely to shift away from duration.Conclusions: These findings support the generalizability of the L2LP model to Mandarin listeners and demonstrate that explicit instruction can effectively promote cue reweighting, particularly when targeting non-contrastive dimensions in the learners’ L1. Instructional outcomes were shaped by prior language experience
Friendship and publishing in Geoffrey Brito’s Sol meldunensis: a collaborative gift book from Cirencester Abbey for Geoffrey, abbot of Malmesbury, 1246–60
Get PDFThe regular canons of Cirencester Abbey and the monks of Malmesbury Abbey formed a literary exchange in the 1130s with Robert of Cricklade and William of Malmesbury. This friendship surfaces again with the publishing circle of Alexander Neckam (1157–1217), whose nephew, Geoffrey Brito, a canon of Cirencester Abbey, organized pittances with the ‘friends of Master Alexander’ to perpetuate the writer’s memory. Geoffrey presented Sol meldunensis, a miscellany of Alexander’s works as a continuous theological treatise. This compilation forms the main production unit of Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.6.42. Marginalia in four Cirencester manuscripts corresponding to Geoffrey’s extracts prove that these were the compilation’s direct sources. The miscellany was a gift to Geoffrey, abbot of Malmesbury from 1246 until 1260, framed with poems on friendship that emphasize collaboration and criticism. The volume is a multilevel composition, extended with a leaf of tinted drawings of St Francis and St Dominic, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Prophetia Merlini, and Geoffrey Brito’s verse anthology Felix ille. The Cirencester decorator’s integration of these contributions into the rest of the volume shows that the manuscript is a collaborative product, either the result of co-production at Cirencester or the result of an exchange with Malmesbury, reflecting the spirit of Geoffrey’s poems