Ceramic smoking pipes are among the most distinctive artifacts recovered from Iroquoian sites dating from AD 1350 to 1650 in what is today New York, Ontario, and Quebec. In this study, we conduct network analyses of pipe forms to examine assemblages of relations among the ancestral and colonial-era Huron-Wendat during a period of coalescence, conflict, and confederacy formation. We bring these networks based on pipe form together with previous network analysis of collar decoration on ceramic vessels to develop insights about the social networks that each artifact type comprises. Our findings indicate that, unlike pottery collar decorations (which are primarily associated with women and reflect highly cohesive social networks), Huron-Wendat smoking pipes (which are more closely associated with men) were less cohesive and reflect the formation of coalitional networks. We interpret these patterns in the context of defensive alliances that formed to provide mutual aid among communities and nations. These differences highlight the distinct social and material domains in which these artifacts operated, offering complementary perspectives on the complex social dynamics that shaped the social and political landscapes of precolonial and early colonial northeastern North America.

An increasing number of studies have shown that pretesting L2 word knowledge before a study phase can enhance subsequent learning. However, little is known about pretesting effects in the context of incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition. This study explores the effects of pretesting on L2 vocabulary learning through reading, focusing on the moderating effect of the pretest format. One hundred and forty-three participants were randomly assigned to a nonpretested condition or three pretested conditions (meaning recall, meaning recognition, and form recognition). In the pretested conditions, participants completed a vocabulary pretest, followed by a meaning-focused reading task and three vocabulary posttests. The findings show that the meaning recall and form recognition groups were impacted most by pretesting in terms of learning outcomes and perceptions of the learning intervention. However, the pretesting effect on posttest scores was small and statistically nonsignificant, suggesting a minimal impact of pretesting on incidental learning outcomes.

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) poses significant health risks and is prevalent in children and adolescents in India. This study aimed to determine the effect of seasonal variation and availability of vitamin A-rich (VA-rich) foods on serum retinol in adolescents. Data on serum retinol levels from adolescents (n 2297, mean age 14 years) from the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016–2018) in India were analysed, with VAD defined as serum retinol < 0·7 µmol/L. Five states were selected based on a comparable under-five mortality rate and the seasonal spread of the data collection period. Dietary data from adolescents and children ≤ 4 years old were used to assess VA-rich food consumption. A linear mixed model framework was employed to analyse the relationship between serum retinol, month of the year and VA-rich food consumption, with a priori ranking to control for multiple hypothesis testing. Consumption of VA-rich foods, particularly fruits and vegetables/roots and tubers, showed seasonal patterns, with higher consumption during summer and monsoon months. Significant associations were found between serum retinol concentrations and age, month of sampling, consumption of VA-rich foods and fish. VAD prevalence was lowest in August, coinciding with higher consumption of VA-rich fruits and foods. Findings highlight the importance of considering seasonality in assessing VAD prevalence and careful interpretation of survey findings. Intentional design, analysis and reporting of surveys to capture seasonal variation is crucial for accurate assessment and interpretation of VAD prevalence, including during monitoring and evaluation of programmes, and to ensure that public health strategies are appropriately informed.

This article clarifies two choices at two different levels of analysis—that theologians make (often implicitly) in employing social science to clarify how social structures affect moral agency. The first is the choice of a general causal account of how all social structures “work,” where this article endorses the view provided by critical realist sociology. The second is the choice of some particular causal account of the functioning of a specific kind of social structure. It proposes a new definition that applies to all, not simply the most egregious sinful social structures that accounts for both the oppression of the marginalized and the complicity of the privileged. To illustrate the analysis, we end by examining three features important in the transformation of sinful social structures that have received inadequate attention in the literature of theological ethics: nonmoral cognitive categories, bodily practices, and the penalties for noncompliance.

This paper examines the aeroelastic stability of uniform flexible wings imperfectly supported at one end and free at the other. Real-world aircraft wings inevitably exhibit imperfections, including non-ideal end supports. This work is motivated by the critical need to fundamentally understand how end-support imperfections influence the aeroelastic behaviour of fixed wings. The equations of motion are obtained via the extended Hamilton’s principle. The bending-torsional dynamics of the wing is approximated using the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. The aerodynamic lift and pitching moment are modelled using the unsteady aerodynamics for the arbitrary motion of thin aerofoils in the time domain, extended by the strip flow theory. The imperfect support is modelled via rotational springs (with linear stiffness) for both bending and torsional degrees of freedom. The Galerkin method is used for the spatial discretisation. The stability analysis is performed by solving the resulting eigenvalue problem, and the numerical results are presented in Argand diagrams. The numerical results presented in this study are novel and offer great insights. It is demonstrated that support imperfections can substantially influence the critical flow velocity for both flutter and divergence, as well as alter the sequence of instabilities and the unstable mode. The extent of these effects directly depends on the magnitude of the imperfections. Interestingly–and counterintuitively–in certain cases, a reduction in the flutter speed is observed as the imperfections decrease.

Competing and complementary risk (CCR) problems are often modelled using a class of distributions of the maximum, or minimum, of a random number of independent and identically distributed random variables, called the CCR class of distributions. While CCR distributions generally do not have an easy-to-calculate density or probability mass function, two special cases, namely the Poisson–exponential and exponential–geometric distributions, can easily be calculated. Hence, it is of interest to approximate CCR distributions with these simpler distributions. In this paper, we develop Stein’s method for the CCR class of distributions to provide a general comparison method for bounding the distance between two CCR distributions, and we contrast this approach with bounds obtained using a Lindeberg argument. We detail the comparisons for Poisson–exponential, and exponential–geometric distributions.

In Ghana, the institution of chieftaincy, a traditional political governance system, is saddled with a number of conflicts which have far-reaching implications for food security in affected communities. This study examined how the infamous Bimbilla chieftaincy conflicts in the Northern Region of Ghana undermined the food security situation in the context of hunger, famine and sudden rise in food prices. A total of 383 respondents were randomly and purposely selected in a convergent mixed-methods study design. Questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions were the main primary data collection methods. The study revealed that the chieftaincy conflicts significantly impacted hunger (β = –0.152, t = –2.807, p = 0.005) and famine (β = 0.188, t = 3.443, p = 0.001). A sudden increase in food prices (β = 0.006, t = 0.113, p = 0.910) stood as the only food security factor which was not affected substantially by the chieftaincy conflicts.

Trajectory optimization is a critical research area in robotics and automation, especially in manufacturing industries where mechanical systems are often required to minimize the execution time or the consumed energy. In this context, the most common mechanical systems are those with a single degree of freedom because of their simplicity and ease of control. In this paper, we present an approach for the online optimization of minimum-time and minimum-energy trajectories for a robotic system with one degree of freedom. Point-to-point motions of the considered linear axis are planned online, without idle times, by leveraging a verified dynamic model of the robotic system, which also includes an accurate identification of friction parameters. Both minimum-time and minimum-energy trajectories are considered, and the performance of the online optimization using a selected open-source optimization tool is verified in different dynamic conditions of the system. The results of extensive experiments on a belt-driven robotic axis demonstrate the feasibility and the energy-saving capabilities of the proposed approach, as well as the flexibility of the online trajectory optimization in different scenarios, while meeting the kinematics and dynamics limits of the system and guaranteeing low computational time.

Cognitive therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is recommended in a range of national and international guidelines. This clinical guidance paper specifically focuses on cognitive therapy for PTSD (CT-PTSD) where racism has been part of the index trauma event(s). It aims to support CBT therapists to maintain fidelity to the CT-PTSD model but also ensure that racism is integrated into the formulation and interventions in ways that are sensitive and validating. It explores barriers to this occurring ranging from societal factors (e.g. ongoing racism, discouragement from discussing racism), to therapist factors (e.g. lack of understanding of racism, lack of own understanding of racialised identity, anxiety, lack of knowledge, skills and confidence) and patient factors (e.g. shame, fear of therapist response). The paper aims to provide guidance on how these can be addressed alongside case illustrations and practical considerations for therapists and supervisors.