Digital elevation models (DEMs) from the spaceborne interferometric radar mission TanDEM-X hold a large potential for glacier change assessments. However, a bias is potentially introduced through the penetration of the X-band signal into snow and firn. To improve our understanding of radar penetration on glaciers, we compare DEMs derived from the almost synchronous acquisition of TanDEM-X and Pléiades optical stereo-images of Grosser Aletschgletscher in March 2021. We found that the elevation bias – averaged per elevation bin – can reach up to 4–8 m in the accumulation area, depending on post co-registration corrections. Concurrent in situ measurements (ground-penetrating radar, snow cores, snow pits) reveal that the signal is not obstructed by the last summer horizon but reaches into perennial firn. Because of volume scattering, the TanDEM-X surface is determined by the scattering phase centre and does not coincide with a specific firn layer. We show that the bias corresponds to more than half of the decadal ice loss rate. To minimize the radar penetration bias, we recommend to select DEMs from the same time of the year and over long observation periods. A correction of the radar penetration bias is recommended, especially when combining optical and TanDEM-X DEMs.

The flow-induced vibrations (FIVs) of two identical tandem square cylinders with mass ratio m* = 3.5 at Reynolds number Re = 150 are investigated through two-dimensional direct numerical simulation (DNS) and linear stability analysis over a parameter range of spacing ratio 1.5 ≤ L* ≤ 5 and reduced velocity 3 ≤ Ur ≤ 34. Three kinds of FIV responses, namely vortex-induced vibration (VIV), biased oscillation (BO) and galloping (GA), are identified. The FIVs are then further classified into the branches of initial VIV (IV), resonant VIV (RV and RV′), flutter-induced VIV (FV), desynchronized VIV (DV), VIV developing from GA (GV), transitional state between VIV and GA (TR), BO and GA based on the characteristics of the vibration responses. The transitions among different FIV branches are examined by combining the DNS with linear stability analysis, where the transition boundaries among the VIV, BO and GA branches over the concerned parameters are identified on the branch maps. The transition from IV to RV or RV′ is found to be related to the unstable wake mode, while the FV, transiting from RV or RV′, is induced by the unstable structural factor in the wake-structure mode. The structural instability is considered as the physical origin of GA, whereas the mode competition between unstable wake and structure leads to DV, GV and TR, and thus delays the appearance of GA. The transition from DV to BO with biased equilibrium position, accompanied by the even-order harmonic frequencies, is essentially induced by the symmetry breaking bifurcation.

Due to their identification as third gender people, khwaja sira have historically been subjected to experiences of social marginalization. However, the extant literature has not fully explored the lived experiences of stigma and discrimination against khwaja sira in the Swat Valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. To address this gap, we conducted 45 interviews with khwaja sira in Mingora, Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to better understand their experiences of gender-nonconformity stigma and discrimination in various social contexts, including within their families, in accessing health care, and within education and work contexts. Applying Minority Stress Theory and utilizing thematic content analysis, the present study identified three dimensions of gender-nonconformity stigma: (1) internalized stigma, namely feelings of shame and embarrassment; (2) perceived stigma, namely opinions others had of khwaja sira regarding lack of employability or engagement in sex work; and (3) enacted stigma, namely exclusion from families, in educational settings, in religious spaces, and in healthcare settings. Findings should inform future social intervention and community practice engagements with khwaja sira communities in Pakistan.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a prevalent condition with multifactorial etiology involving genetic and environmental factors. The present study aims to summarize the correlates of stressful life events (SLEs) in OCD by reviewing studies comparing OCD associated or not with SLEs before its onset. To do so, a systematic review was performed by searching PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases for studies published between the database’s inception and November 27, 2023. Studies including individuals whose OCD was precipitated or not by SLEs (SLEs OCD and NSLEs OCD, respectively) were assessed. Effect sizes or odds ratios were then calculated to identify the strength of association between SLEs and clinical characteristics, such as gender, age of onset, family history of OCD, severity of OCD symptoms, depressive symptoms, and mood comorbidities among patients with OCD. Out of the 4083 records initially identified, 5 studies met the inclusion criteria and 3 were comparable through a meta-analysis. Notably, the analyses were limited by the small number of studies available in the literature. The meta-analysis demonstrated SLEs OCD to be associated with female gender, later OCD onset, and increased comorbidity rates with mood disorders. Despite the cross-sectional nature of the reviewed studies, women may be more vulnerable to develop a later onset of OCD following SLEs, which may also lead to mood disorders. Caution is needed to avoid prematurely classifying this presentation as a distinct subtype of OCD.

This paper theorizes and defends a process I term “hermeneutical bastardization.” This concept tracks the way in which some hermeneutical injustices arise not from a gap in a shared pool of hermeneutical resources, but from the decontextualization of an advantageous hermeneutical resource into another (typically dominant) hermeneutical domain. This decontextualization bastardizes hermeneutical resources by severing the concept from its original meaning and significance. I focus on the term “trans woman” and examine the way in which dominant epistemic agents rewrite and redefine the concept according to prominent and prevalent pernicious representations. Specifically, once decontextualized, the term “trans woman” denotes an individual who is thoroughly erotic and sexual in nature. Hermeneutical bastardization can illuminate how hermeneutically marginalized groups are reconstructed by other dominant epistemic agents according to these pernicious representations and can be silenced whilst their concepts, or rather their terms, are being utilized in sets of dominant hermeneutical resources in ways that severely diverge from their original intra-communal conceptualization. This type of hermeneutical injustice does not arise from a lacuna in our set of resources, but instead depends on the uptake of a concept's term and its subsequent decontextualization.

Waste pickers are recognised as a key stakeholder in the ongoing negotiations towards an international legally binding instrument to end plastic pollution. Up to 34 million waste pickers contribute to recovering close to 60% of recycled post-consumer plastic waste globally. The International Alliance of Waste Pickers (IAWP) has actively engaged in the negotiations to safeguard a just transition for these important but vulnerable and frequently overlooked workers. This article explores how the IAWP has gained prominence in the plastics treaty negotiations through three iterative processes. First, the reiterative naming of “waste pickers” has constituted a symbolic practice and discursive influence that heightened recognition of waste pickers’ role as knowledge and rights holders in a just transition to end plastic pollution. Second, the performative dimension of waste picker advocacy has influenced official and informal events. Third, by engaging in “scale work”, waste pickers have influenced and leveraged their alliances to work towards a just transition across national, regional and international levels. By examining the role and influence of waste pickers in the plastics treaty through the frames of naming, performance and scale, the article contributes to advance the scholarly literature on just transition and grassroots movements in global environmental governance (GEG).

‘Anxious scrutiny’ has become one of the most used terms within the lexicon of judicial review throughout the common law world, including Hong Kong, yet surprisingly remains understudied in the scholarly literature. In contrast to the considerable body of literature on substantive review of discretion in relation to proportionality and Wednesbury unreasonableness as rival standards of review, there is still much to explore in relation to the foundation, purpose, and techniques of anxious scrutiny review, including how the concept may have come to depart from its English roots in other common law jurisdictions. Using Hong Kong as a case study, this article examines how anxious scrutiny has been received in an Asian common law jurisdiction, considering both the scope of application and the techniques used by judges under this standard. Through a detailed examination of the case law, it traces the origins and evolution of the standard and its future role within the sliding scale of substantive review within Hong Kong's system of public law.

My first acquaintance with the History of Economics Society (HES) occurred in the summer of 1990 when I attended its seventeenth annual meeting. Organized by the then HES president and now recently deceased Stanley “Todd” Lowry at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, it marked the beginning of my experience with US higher education. Later that summer, I began a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University. The economics department still hosted a history of economics seminar—the Kress seminar—though its actual connection with the seminar was tenuous.1 Following the Lexington meeting, the paper I presented was accepted for publication in volume 7 of Perspectives on the History of Economic Thought—a book series that published selected papers from the HES conference. It was my first publication in English. From then on, I kept attending the HES annual meeting regularly and with enthusiasm. I met a number of stimulating people and made some good friends there. It was always refreshing to find myself in the United States following nine months of teaching and research in France.

The North East Hill Region (NEHR) of India is home to diverse maize landraces including pigmented accessions rich in antioxidants and nutritional properties. The present study attempted to characterize a representative collection of this mostly unexplored diversity. Altogether eighty-three local maize landraces from the seven hill states of the NEHR were studied with special emphasis on pigmentation diversity. For the morphological traits, a significant ANOVA indicated the presence of substantial genetic variability for which selection would be fruitful. A number of these accessions were found to have traits that help cope with moisture stress, improve stalk strength and optimize photosynthesis. Principal component analysis studies for the yield attributing traits indicated that ear weight was most variable. The bleaching/histological studies confirmed that anthocyanin pigment when present was always restricted to the aleurone layer of the kernels, typical of blue maize. Quantitative analysis for kernel anthocyanin/phlobaphene content also revealed genetic differences among the accessions. Genetic analysis using the model-based STRUCTURE indicated significant population structuring among the accessions. Specifically, for the pigmentation diversity studies both principal coordinate analysis and neighbour joining methods revealed near concurrent population structuring due in part to the high differentiation of seven of the twenty-one pigmentation specific loci studied. The results obtained provide comprehensive evidence of a significant amount of genetic differentiation among the landraces under study. Landraces are valuable reservoirs of favourable alleles for which selection can be made and, as in this study, identify accessions for breeding maize with enhanced levels of beneficial secondary metabolites.

This paper deals with generally routed, pre-bent cable-driven continuum robots (CCR). A CCR consists of a flexible backbone to which multiple disks are attached. Cables are passed through holes in the disk, and when pulled, the flexible backbone and the CCR can attain different shapes based on their routing and backbone configuration. An optimization-based approach, using minimization of strain energy, is shown to give good results for the pose and motion of the CCR and to determine contact with external objects. The pose, motion, and the contact obtained from the model are shown to match very well with experimental results obtained from a 3D-printed CCR. An algorithm is proposed to generate the pre-bent backbone for a CCR which on actuation can attain the desired shape. Using the algorithm, three 3D-printed CCRs with pre-bent backbones are fabricated and these are used to demonstrate a compliant gripper that can grip a spherical object similar to that done by tentacles, and another three-fingered gripper with straight backbone CCRs is used to orient a square object gripped at the end.

Scaling fluctuation analyses of marine animal diversity and extinction and origination rates based on the Paleobiology Database occurrence data have opened new perspectives on macroevolution, supporting the hypothesis that the environment (climate proxies) and life (extinction and origination rates) are scaling over the “megaclimate” biogeological regime (from ≈1 Myr to at least 400 Myr). In the emerging picture, biodiversity is a scaling “crossover” phenomenon being dominated by the environment at short timescales and by life at long timescales with a crossover at ≈40 Myr. These findings provide the empirical basis for constructing the Fractional MacroEvolution Model (FMEM), a simple stochastic model combining destabilizing and stabilizing tendencies in macroevolutionary dynamics, driven by two scaling processes: temperature and turnover rates.

Macroevolution models are typically deterministic (albeit sometimes perturbed by random noises) and are based on integer-ordered differential equations. In contrast, the FMEM is stochastic and based on fractional-ordered equations. Stochastic models are natural for systems with large numbers of degrees of freedom, and fractional equations naturally give rise to scaling processes.

The basic FMEM drivers are fractional Brownian motions (temperature, T) and fractional Gaussian noises (turnover rates, E+) and the responses (solutions), are fractionally integrated fractional relaxation noises (diversity [D], extinction [E], origination [O], and E− = O − E). We discuss the impulse response (itself representing the model response to a bolide impact) and derive the model's full statistical properties. By numerically solving the model, we verified the mathematical analysis and compared both uniformly and irregularly sampled model outputs with paleobiology series.