The maximality of T in Thompson's group V

Funding: The fourth author was partially funded by NSF DMS-2005297.We show that R. Thompson’s group T is a maximal subgroup of the group V. The argument provides examples of foundational calculations which arise when expressing elements of V as products of transpositions of basic clopen sets in the Cantor space ℭ.Peer reviewe

Distinct intraseasonal oscillation modes over the tropical Indo-Pacific oceans

Funding: This work was supported by the National Key Program for Developing Basic Science (Grants 2022YFF0801702 and 2022YFE0106600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 42175060 and 42175021), the Jiangsu Province Science Foundation (Grant BK20250200302). The authors are thankful for the support of the Jiangsu Provincial Innovation Center for Climate Change.In boreal winter, the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is the dominant mode of tropical intraseasonal oscillation (ISO), which bridges weather and climate. In addition to the dominant eastward propagating MJO mode, this study identifies the existence of the westward propagating and stationary oscillating ISO modes according to the spatio-temporal evolution of large-scale precipitation. At the pentad timescale, each ISO mode tends to suppress the occurrence of the other two. The diagnostic of column-integrated moist static energy (MSE) tendency anomalies reveals the dominant contribution from horizontal MSE advection to each ISO mode. Synthesis results indicate that vertical zonal wind shear anomalies exhibit opposite distributions between the propagating and stationary oscillating ISO events over the tropical Indo-Pacific Oceans. Subsequent simulations prove that the easterly (westerly) wind shear anomalies could suppress the eastward (westward) propagating convection of the ISO, thus favoring a stationary oscillating ISO.Peer reviewe

From the Mythic to the Manègethe horse as intermediary between classical and Renaissance poetry in the work of Ronsard

Ronsard’s passion for the equestrian arts and his technical knowledge of the practice can be felt throughout his poetry. A contemporary at the royal stables of the riding master François de Carnavalet, the poet fuses his personal equestrian experiences from that time to the classical stories of horses of the past in order to praise at once the art of horsemanship and the art of poetry.Peer reviewe

Relaxation of natural selection in the evolution of the giant lungfish genomes

Funding: This work was supported by the University of Ferrara (Italy) and funded by the MIUR PRIN 2017 grant 201794ZXTL to G.B. S.F., G.B., and R.B. are deeply grateful to Jane Hughes and Dan Schmidt for their hospitality at the Griffith University, Queensland, and for their friendship.Nonadaptive hypotheses on the evolution of eukaryotic genome size predict an expansion when the process of purifying selection becomes weak. Accordingly, species with huge genomes, such as lungfish, are expected to show a genome-wide relaxation signature of selection compared with other organisms. However, few studies have empirically tested this prediction using genomic data in a comparative framework. Here, we show that 1) the newly assembled transcriptome of the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, is characterized by an excess of pervasive transcription, or transcriptional leakage, possibly due to suboptimal transcriptional control, and 2) a significant relaxation signature in coding genes in lungfish species compared with other vertebrates. Based on these observations, we propose that the largest known animal genomes evolved in a nearly neutral scenario where genome expansion is less efficiently constrained.Peer reviewe

Knowledge, inquiry and dogmatism

The popular idea that knowledge is the aim of inquiry appears to licence a specific form of dogmatism: once one knows the answer to a question, one ought to decline further evidence bearing on it. For, in knowing the answer to the question, one has already met the aim of inquiry. And by gathering further evidence one risks losing that knowledge by acquiring misleading evidence. After distinguishing the relevant form of dogmatism from standard dogmatism, I reject a range of different responses to this challenge including that gathering further evidence may answer alternative inquiries, the idea that the aim of inquiry is not knowledge but something stronger, or appeal to the personal aims of inquirers. Here I argue that none of these replies are adequate and instead suggest a solution that appeals to situation-sensitive epistemic norms on inquiry.Peer reviewe

Testing kinematic distances under a realistic Galactic potential : investigating systematic errors in the kinematic distance method arising from a non-axisymmetric potential

Funding: This investigation is funded by the European Research Council under ERC Synergy Grant ECOGAL (grant 855130), lead by Patrick Hennebelle, Ralf S. Klessen, Sergio Molinari and Leonardo Testi. MCS acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council under the ERC Starting Grant “GalFlow” (grant 101116226) and from the Royal Society (URF\R1\221118). EV acknowledges support from an STFC Ernest Rutherford fellowship (ST/X004066/1).Context. Obtaining reliable distance estimates to gas clouds within the Milky Way is challenging in the absence of certain tracers. The kinematic distance approach has been used as an alternative, and it is derived from the assumption of circular trajectories around the Galactic centre. Consequently, significant errors are expected in regions where gas flow deviates from purely circular motions. Aims. We aim to quantify the systematic errors that arise from the kinematic distance method in the presence of a Galactic potential that is non-axisymmetric. We investigated how these errors differ in certain regions of the Galaxy and how they relate to the underlying dynamics. Methods. We performed 2D isothermal hydrodynamical simulation of the gas disk with the moving-mesh code AREPO, adding the capability of using an external potential provided by the AGAMA library for galactic dynamics. We introduced a new analytic potential of the Milky Way, taking elements from existing models and adjusting parameters to match recent observational constraints. Results. In line with results of previous studies, we report significant errors in the kinematic distance estimate for gas close to the Sun along sight lines towards the Galactic centre and anti-centre and associated with the Galactic bar. Kinematic distance errors are low within the spiral arms, as gas resides close to local potential minima and the resulting line-of-sight velocity is similar to what is expected for an axisymmetric potential. Interarm regions exhibit large deviations at any given Galactic radius, and this is caused by the gas being sped up or slowed down as it travels into or out of spiral arms. In addition, we identify ‘zones of avoidance’ in the lv-diagram, where the kinematic distance method is particularly unreliable and should only be used with caution, and we find a power-law relation between the kinematic distance error and the deviation of the projected line-of-sight velocity from circular motion.Peer reviewe

Cas10 based 7SL-sRNA diagnostic for the detection of active trypanosomiasis

Funding: PCS, LJM and FG are funded through core support to the Roslin Institute by the United Kingdom Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) (BBS/E/RL/230002C); PCS is supported by a BBSRC Discovery Fellowship (BB/X009807/1); LJM and KRM were supported by a Wellcome Trust Collaborative Award (206815/Z/17/Z); MFW and SG are funded by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Grant REF BB/T004789/1) and a European Research Council Advanced Grant (Grant REF 101018608).Animal Trypanosomosis (AT) is a significant disease affecting cattle across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia, posing a major threat to economic productivity and animal welfare. The absence of reliable diagnostic tests has led to an over-reliance on widespread pre-emptive drug treatments, which not only compromise animal health but also heighten the risk of drug resistance. The chronic nature of AT, characterized by cyclical low or undetectable parasite levels, and the necessity for field-applicable tests that can distinguish between active infection and prior exposure, present considerable challenges in developing effective diagnostics. In previous work, we identified a parasite-specific small RNA, 7SL-sRNA, which is detectable in the serum of infected cattle, even during the chronic stages of infection. However, existing methods for detecting sRNA require specialized equipment, making them unsuitable for field use. In this study, we have developed both a fluorescence-based and a lateral flow diagnostic test utilizing Cas10 technology for the detection of 7SL-sRNA from Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei. The fluorescence assay detects 10 – 100 fM T. congolense 7SL-sRNA and 1 pM T. brucei 7SL-sRNA, and the lateral flow assay showed a limit of detection of 1 – 10 pM for both species. Either assay can effectively identify active infections in cattle, including during chronic phases (with positive signals observed up to the experimental end point, 63 days post infection). This also highlights the effective use of Cas10 for small RNA detection, paving the way for a cost-effective, user-friendly, and field-deployable diagnostic test for AT, while establishing Cas10 technology for the detection of small RNAs in general.Peer reviewe

Utilizing virtual reality to assist social competence education and social support for children from under-represented backgrounds

Funding: This publication has emanated from research conducted with the financial support of Trinity College Dublin-China Scholarship Council Joint Scholarship (ID 202008300006) and Horizon Europe Framework Program (HORIZON - ID 6101070109).Although education is a fundamental human right for global citizens, educational inequality still exists within and among countries. Still today, many students struggle to access and receive quality education. Therefore, the value of using immersive technology to increase social competence and perceived social support for children who live in remote areas of the world, reduce inequality, and improve the quality of education requires much attention to address the lacuna between urban and rural education systems. Based on three representative pedagogies (Pedagogy of Technology, Play-based Learning, and Traditional Pedagogy), we designed three social competence educational approaches – virtual reality (VR) assisted social competence education, Lego social competence education, and traditional classroom learning – and applied them to interventions in two rural schools in Southwest China. Our results showed that VR and Lego social competence education prompted children's social competence and perceived social support with elementary school children (Study 1). Furthermore, VR social competence education resulted in substantially greater social competencies and subjective sense of social support than traditional classroom learning with middle school children (Study 2). The results suggest that VR-assisted social competence education (Pedagogy of Technology) could be a potential tool to reduce educational inequalities in underdeveloped countries and regions.Peer reviewe

Evolvability under climate change : bone development and shape plasticity are heritable and correspond with performance in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus)

Funding: This study was funded by grants from the NatureScot, Royal Society, Carnegie Trust, Glasgow Natural History Society, and the University of Glasgow.Environmental conditions can impact the development of phenotypes and in turn the performance of individuals. Climate change, therefore, provides a pressing need to extend our understanding of how temperature will influence phenotypic variation. To address this, we assessed the impact of increased temperatures on ecologically significant phenotypic traits in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus). We raised Arctic charr at 5°C and 9°C to simulate a predicted climate change scenario and examined temperature-induced variation in ossification, bone metabolism, skeletal morphology, and escape response. Fish reared at 9°C exhibited less cartilage and bone development at the same developmental stage, but also higher bone metabolism in localized regions. The higher temperature treatment also resulted in significant differences in craniofacial morphology, changes in the degree of variation, and fewer vertebrae. Both temperature regime and vertebral number affected escape response performance, with higher temperature leading to decreased latency. These findings demonstrate that climate change has the potential to impact development through multiple routes with the potential for plasticity and the release of cryptic genetic variation to have strong impacts on function through ecological performance and survival.Peer reviewe

Unearthing the histories of agrarian landscapes : a research framework for terraces as sustainable environments

Funding: This project received funding from ARPAMED (PID2020-119365GA-I00) and ECOLOC (EUR2021-122009), Spanish Ministry of Science—UKRI AHRC Terraces as sustainable environments—TerraSAgE (AH/T000104/1) and European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 890561, Historic Landscape and Soil Sustainability (HiLSS).This article presents an interdisciplinary programme for research on historic landscapes that has emerged since 2020 in the framework of the project Terraces as Sustainable Agricultural Environments (‘TerraSAgE’). While the methodology has been tested in specific Mediterranean case studies, it is also applicable in other locations and regions. Our integrated approach provides new insights into the development of terraced agrarian landscapes and the changing dynamics in land management. It can provide knowledge of the extent to which past change has influenced present-day landscapes and has implications for the development of sustainable landscape practices. The research framework proposed here has been tested through case studies in different landscape types across southern Europe, including small-scale mixed farming landscapes of the Aegean islands (Naxos, Greece); terraces for vines and olives (Pelješac, Croatia); a landscape of dairy production (northern Apennines, Italy), which was until quite recently agroforestry; modern cereal cultivation (around Els Prats de Rei, Catalonia, Spain); upland irrigated landscapes on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada (Andalucia, Spain) and mixed farming in a wooded Atlantic environment (Galicia, Spain).Peer reviewe