This study explores user engagement and strategic interaction with a newly designed tangible game board- a 3x3x3 cube frame with 27 voids and 27 game pieces. 15 teams, each with 2 players, were provided with only the game set to develop their own game rules and strategies, encouraging participants to engage in the spatial and experiential aspects that the game board offers. Researchers observed how players approached the 3D structure and developed gameplay tactics without predefined rules, fostering creativity and exploration. Importantly, the study captured feedback on the structure’s versatility, with many participants developing new game rules, which implies its potential as a game platform. The experiments revealed that one of the emergences resulting from the affordances of the game platform is a game strategy for 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, amongst the many other possible games identified.

Eclipta [Eclipta prostrata (L.) L.] is an important tropical weed that has recently emerged as a problematic weed in dry direct-seeded rice (Oryza sativa L.) (DSR) fields in China. Understanding its seed germination biology and ecology is crucial for developing integrated weed management strategies in the DSR system. Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate seed germination of E. prostrata seeds under varying environmental conditions. Germination was greatest under alternating temperature regimes of 25/15 to 40/30 C, whereas it was significantly reduced at 20/10 C and completely inhibited at 15/5 C. Germination was also fully suppressed under continuous darkness, indicating strong light dependency. Eclipta prostrata seeds tolerated a broad range of pH values (4 to 10) with germination rates consistently greater than 95%. However, germination declined sharply under osmotic potentials, falling below 2% at −0.6 MPa, and being completely inhibited at −0.7 MPa. Seeds also showed moderate salt tolerance, with 50% inhibition at 150 mM NaCl and no germination at 300 mM NaCl. Exposure to radiant heat (>90 C for 5 min) prevented germination, suggesting residue burning may be an effective control measure. Seedling emergence was highest (100%) on the soil surface but declined steeply with increasing burial depth, with no emergence observed beyond 0.5 cm. Similarly, surface application of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) straw residue (2,000 to 6,000 kg ha−1) significantly reduced seedling emergence and biomass. These findings provide essential insights into E. prostrata germination ecology and offer practical implications for its integrated management in DSR systems.

In Modern Standard German both bare infinitives and those formed with the particle zu are used as independent main clause predicates, where they each have illocutionary force. While the former can be associated with a range of functions, the latter specifically encodes indignation towards a state of affairs on the part of the speaker. Taking a constructionist approach, I argue that the exclamative zu-infinitive has emerged as a schematic construction, which is best described as a conventionalized form–function relation between the structure [X + zu + Inf] and an attitudinal semantic feature that represents speaker indignation. I provide diachronic data as well as a cross-linguistic comparison to support this constructionalization process.

How do “novel” spaces of transnational law emerge rather than being captured within existing legal regimes? This article argues that processes driving how the subject matter of a transnational legal space is defined and framed and by whom are notable in mediating such outcomes. The article presents the empirical case study of global neurotechnology governance and examines socio-legal processes whereby individual and organizational actors have constructed and defended neurotechnology as a distinct space of transnational law. Here, I argue that this can be understood as boundary work, which examines discursive and spatial processes of demarcating social entities from one another. The article shows how attention to external and internal boundaries around and within a transnational legal domain can sensitize socio-legal analysis to the more emergent features of these spaces, including more subtle modes of exclusion, cooperation, and coordination. The article concludes by reflecting on how attention to processes of boundary work can enrich inquiry into, and critique of, the earliest stages of transnational legal ordering.

Introductions of new crops can provide alternate market opportunities, but also may pose ecological risks. New crops lack established management, have uncertain performance issues, and may become weedy in their introduced region. The introduction of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) into southern Florida poses a unique introduction scenario because of the subtropical climate and no commercial production on record, unlike in other eastern and midwestern U.S. states. We assessed the escape from cultivation for hemp by tracking establishment and reproduction of volunteer plants from the earliest modern hemp planting in Florida. Hemp is a weed across much of the United States matching its historical distribution and has been assessed to be of high invasion risk for Florida because of its biological attributes, history of escape, and colonization in other states and countries. We conducted monitoring of volunteer plants and a seed establishment experiment in southern Florida finding that hemp volunteer plants occurred in pulses over time, with variable and declining germination. Volunteer plants persisted for up to 2 yr and appeared in areas that were disked and mowed according to USDA-approved hemp crop termination procedures. In the seed establishment experiment, we found that hemp established in disturbed soils (∼9% of seeds planted) and that mean plant heights and seed counts were positively related to soil disturbance and nutrient addition. These findings showed that hemp plantings should be monitored for volunteer establishment, and containment plans should be in place to control the establishment of volunteer hemp plants in agricultural fields. Our study further illustrates the need for multiyear monitoring and repeat termination procedures to ensure containment of hemp volunteers. There was limited evidence of volunteer establishment in surrounding areas and on undisturbed land. However, seed containment, equipment cleaning, and the monitoring of nearby fields and seed transportation routes remains warranted.

Leadership emergence is fraught with pervasive gender stereotypes, and women remain underrepresented in senior leadership roles, particularly in healthcare organisations. We apply ecological systems theory to explain how environmental factors enable or inhibit women’s leadership emergence in healthcare settings. We interviewed 17 senior female leaders in the Australian healthcare sector to explore how gender-related perceptions affected their leadership journeys. Five themes emerged that challenge existing narratives: men supported women’s advancement; women impeded other women’s progress; vulnerability was a leadership strength; ambitious women were ostracised; and women were ‘given’ leadership opportunities rather than actively pursuing them. By situating these findings within the ecological systems theory framework, we highlight the interplay of individual and contextual influences across ecosystem levels. Our study offers a novel perspective on gender stereotypes in leadership emergence, advancing ecological systems theory by extending it into a new field. We provide recommendations at individual, organisational, community, and societal levels to empower women leaders.

For microscale heterogeneous partial differential equations (PDEs), this article further develops novel theory and methodology for their macroscale mathematical/asymptotic homogenization. This article specifically encompasses the case of quasi-periodic heterogeneity with finite scale separation: no scale separation limit is required. A key innovation herein is to analyse the ensemble of all phase-shifts of the heterogeneity. Dynamical systems theory then frames the homogenization as a slow manifold of the ensemble. Depending upon any perceived scale separation within the quasi-periodic heterogeneity, the homogenization may be done in either one step or two sequential steps: the results are equivalent. The theory not only assures us of the existence and emergence of an exact homogenization at finite scale separation, it also provides a practical systematic method to construct the homogenization to any specified order. For a class of heterogeneities, we show that the macroscale homogenization is potentially valid down to lengths which are just twice that of the microscale heterogeneity! This methodology complements existing well-established results by providing a new rigorous and flexible approach to homogenization that potentially also provides correct macroscale initial and boundary conditions, treatment of forcing and control, and analysis of uncertainty.

Focusing on the late prehistoric southern Levant, we recently suggested that the diffused low-frequency distribution of large predator bones (lion, leopard and bear) coalesces into a coherent temporal pattern when observed at a sufficiently long timescale. While in the previous research we sought to determine what sort of sociocultural mechanism might explain this pattern, effectively drawing it into the orbit of the familiar, in this brief provocation, we push in the other direction, towards the unfamiliar: how can a process or phenomenon be culturally significant yet meaningless at the human and societal levels? How is a phenomenon substantial in the long term and insubstantial in the short term?

Waterhemp has evolved resistance to Group 2, 5, 9, 14, and 27 herbicides in Ontario, Canada, making control of this challenging weed even more difficult. Acetochlor is a Group 15, chloroacetanilide herbicide that has activity on many small-seeded annual grasses and some small-seeded annual broadleaf weeds, including waterhemp. The objective of this study was to ascertain if acetochlor mixtures with broadleaf herbicides (dicamba, metribuzin, diflufenican, sulfentrazone, or flumioxazin), applied preemergence (PRE), increase multiple-herbicide-resistant (MHR) waterhemp control in soybean. Five trials were conducted over 2 yr (2021 and 2022). The acetochlor mixtures caused ≤7% soybean injury, except acetochlor + flumioxazin, which caused 19% soybean injury. Acetochlor applied PRE controlled MHR waterhemp 89% at 4 wk after application (WAA). Dicamba, metribuzin, diflufenican, sulfentrazone, or flumioxazin controlled MHR waterhemp 59%, 67%, 58%, 64%, and 86%, respectively, at 4 WAA. Acetochlor applied in a mixture with dicamba, metribuzin, diflufenican, sulfentrazone, or flumioxazin provided good to excellent control of MHR waterhemp; control ranged from 91% to 98% but was similar to acetochlor applied alone. Acetochlor alone reduced MHR waterhemp density and biomass 98% and 93%; acetochlor + flumioxazin reduced waterhemp density and biomass by an additional 2% and 7%, respectively. This research concludes that acetochlor applied in a mixture with flumioxazin was the most efficacious mixture evaluated for MHR waterhemp control.

Fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis Poir.) has invaded and colonized numerous habitats in the coastal areas of southeastern Australia and is a major weed in cultivated lands as well as in poorly grassed, neglected, and highly grazed pastures. To examine the seed germination ecology of two populations (Felton and Gatton) of S. madagascariensis, experiments were conducted in the laboratory and screen house. The germination of both populations increased as the alternating temperatures increased from the coolest temperatures (15/5 C) to warmer temperatures (25/15 C). However, the highest temperature regime (35/25 C) resulted in the lowest germination rates. The Gatton population exhibited greater tolerance to higher temperatures, resulting in significantly higher germination (2.4 times) than the Felton population at the highest alternating temperature of 35/25 C. Compared with the Felton population, the Gatton population demonstrated higher tolerance to salt and water stress. In comparison to alternating light and dark periods (12 h each) (97% to 98%), the germination of both populations of S. madagascariensis was significantly reduced under complete darkness (24 h) (33% to 39%). A screen house seed burial depth experiment revealed similar emergence of S. madagascariensis seedlings between the populations. The maximum emergence (60%) was observed for seeds placed at the soil surface, followed by a dramatic decline in seedling emergence with an increase in depth. No seedlings emerged from a burial depth of 4 cm. With the addition of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) crop residue to the soil surface at rates comparable to 4,000 to 8,000 kg ha−1, seedling emergence of S. madagascariensis decreased significantly. Information acquired from this study could be utilized to manage and develop effective weed management strategies for controlling S. madagascariensis in different agroecological conditions.