Abstract This article assesses the significance of the July 29, 1940, interracial exhibition tennis match between Jimmie McDaniel and Don Budge held at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in Harlem. Sponsored by the Wilson Sporting Goods Company, the match was brimming with racial symbolism, pitting Budge, the great white champion, against Jimmie McDaniel, an outstanding Black player from Xavier University in New Orleans, at a time when the United States Lawn Tennis Association refused to sanction contests between Black and white players. The exhibition match was also a short-term but important crack in the seemingly unbreakable commitment to racial segregation in tennis and helped in acclimatizing society to Black and white athletic contests and prompting the ultimate eradication of the color line in Major League Baseball and other sports.

Leaf variegation is a key ornamental trait of Cymbidium ensifolium (Jianlan); however, the molecular mechanisms underlying leaf color mutations in variegated sectors remain poorly understood. Elucidating the regulatory networks associated with pigment variation is essential for both basic research and ornamental improvement. Wild-type plants and two leaf color mutants-spot variegation type (BanYi) and line variegation type (XianYi)-were analyzed. Samples were divided into five groups based on leaf origin and color: CK (wild type), B (yellow sectors of BanYi), BL (green sectors of BanYi), X (yellow sectors of XianYi), and XL (green sectors of XianYi). Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were performed. Differential expression analysis was conducted across four comparison groups (B vs BL, B vs CK, X vs CK, and X vs XL). Co-expression analysis, metabolite profiling, correlation analysis, and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) were used to identify key regulatory genes and modules associated with pigment accumulation. A total of 6,716 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, with 141 shared among all comparison groups. These DEGs were significantly enriched in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, zeatin biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. Twenty-four DEGs involved in flavonoid biosynthesis, including structural genes such as CCOAMT, TT4, and HCT, showed elevated expression in variegated leaf sectors. In addition, 80 transcription factors from the MYB, bHLH, and WRKY families were co-expressed with 50 pigment-related DEGs, suggesting coordinated transcriptional regulation. Metabolomic analysis identified 3,024 differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs), of which 56 were shared across all groups. Correlation analysis revealed strong associations between co-DEGs and co-DAMs. WGCNA further identified key modules, including the "MEtan" module, which contained 83 genes significantly correlated with pigment-related metabolites such as 1'-Hydroxy-γ-carotene and violaxanthin. These results demonstrate that leaf variegation in C. ensifolium is regulated by coordinated transcriptional and metabolic networks, particularly involving flavonoid and carotenoid-related pathways. The identified structural genes, transcription factors, and co-expression modules provide novel insights into the genetic basis of leaf color variation and offer valuable candidate targets for the ornamental improvement of Jianlan.

Where in the World Are We? Elections, the Color Line, the Decline of Empire and Fireflies

Lysimachia xishuiensis, a new species of Primulaceae is described from the Danxia landform of Xishui County, Guizhou Province, China based on morphological differentiation at the population level and a distinct ecological niche. The new species is related to L. paridiformis and L. sciadantha, but it is readily distinguished by its diagnostic combination of well-developed stolons, slender and diminutive erect shoots, longer pedicels, and fewer flowers. The detailed color photographs and line drawings of the new species are also provided.

A Hungry Sonic Color Line: Toward a Musicology of Settler Listening in Canada

English A school environment that supports children's physical and visual activities plays an important role in stimulating the motor, cognitive and psychosocial growth of primary school students. However, limited open space facilities are still a common problem, especially in rural schools. This community service program aims to revitalize the field and create educational-based children's play facilities at SD Negeri 1 Widoro, Gandusari District, Trenggalek Regency. The activity method includes initial observation, preparation of intervention design, implementation of revitalization by the KKN team of State University of Malang 2025, and evaluation based on visual documentation. The results showed a significant transformation in the school field area, which is now divided into three multifunctional sports fields (futsal, volleyball, and sepak takraw) with different color lines, as well as the addition of four types of outdoor educational games, namely engklek, floor twister, spiral alphabet zone, and directional jump circle. This activity succeeded in creating a more attractive, fun and functional learning environment, as well as encouraging students' active participation in physical activity and social interaction. Visual documentation shows a marked improvement in aesthetics and student engagement. This program is expected to become a model for participatory and sustainable development of school outdoor facilities

Background: In commercial poultry production, where feed expenses account for about 70% of total costs, improving feed efficiency is crucial for profitability and sustainability. CSML exhibits a multi-Colored plumage and brown eggshells, closely resembling native desi birds, making it highly desirable for crossbreeding to improve indigenous poultry. Methods: A total of 100 CSML chicks were reared individually from 2 to 12 weeks of age to assess Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), Residual Feed Intake (RFI), Residual body weight Gain (RG) and Residual Intake and Body Weight Gain (RIG). Based on these traits, birds were divided into high feed efficient (HFE) and low feed efficient (LFE) groups, with HFE representing the top 20% and LFE the bottom 20%. Result: HFE birds showed significantly better performance, gaining 7.87% body weight gain, consuming 9.96% less feed, achieved 17.25% better FCR and demonstrating improved RFI (179.86%), RG (220.03%) and RIG (182.50%) compared to LFE birds. Gene expression analysis via real-time qPCR revealed upregulation of SGLT1 (nutrient transporter) and GHRL (growth-related) genes and down regulation of CDx (gut development) genes in HFE birds, suggesting their role in feed efficiency. The study concludes that HFE CSML birds exhibit enhanced feed efficiency traits than LFE group, which can be used for production of high feed efficient hybrids.

Background. The modular robotic platform is implemented using the "robot-constructor" principle. The basic platform includes standardized interfaces for connecting various modules – specialized chassis for different types of surfaces, manipulators for cargo handling, and sensor systems for navigation and environmental monitoring. This architecture allows the robotic platform to be quickly adapted to specific customer needs without the need to develop a completely new solution. The platform demonstrates particular practical value in agro-ecological monitoring, where the modular architecture allows for the rapid adaptation of sensor equipment for analyzing key soil parameters. Purpose. To present the architectural and functional design of a modular robotic platform implementing the "robot-constructor" principle and to justify its effectiveness as a basis for creating adaptive ground systems within the national aerospace infrastructure. Materials and methods. The development of a modular self-propelled robotic platform was carried out within the framework of system engineering: conceptual design → synthesis of architecture → selection of components → integration of subsystems → verification on a physical layout. The design is based on a lightweight and rigid metal frame that allows quick replacement of modules (chassis, manipulators, sensors). For work in the agricultural sector, it is possible to switch from a wheeled to a tracked base. Localization and orientation are implemented using visual odometry and simplified SLAM (ORB-SLAM2 light) for building 2D maps. Motion control is a multi-contour PID controller: the external contour corrects the deviation from the trajectory according to the video (P+D), the internal one stabilizes the speed according to the encoder data (I-component). The software platform is ROS 2 Humble (Python 3.10). Key nodes: - vision_node – marker recognition (OpenCV + TensorFlow Lite); - navigation_node – route construction and correction (RRT); - control_node – engine control with adaptive PID adjustment depending on the weight of the cargo; - telemetry_node – data export to JSON/CSV and integration with ERP/MES via REST API. A sensor module is used to monitor the soil: multispectral cameras, humidity, temperature, pH, nutrient sensors, and a sampling device. Results and conclusion. During the project, a modular self-propelled robotic platform was developed and physically prototyped, functioning as a universal ground component within the domestic Aeronet ecosystem. A unified mechanical and electrical platform with standardized connection interfaces (mechanical – quick-release dovetail mounts; electrical – GX16-4P industrial connectors; software – ROS 2-compatible topics), ensuring the modularity of the chassis, manipulators, sensor complexes, and actuators. A visual navigation system has been developed and tested. Based on OpenCV and fine-tuned YOLOv5, an algorithm for recognizing color lines, QR codes, and natural landmarks has been implemented. The platform has been integrated into the educational process at Melitopol State University in four areas of training. The study confirmed the fundamental feasibility and high efficiency of the modular robotic platform as a tool for converging the Aeronet and Technet NTI roadmaps. The developed solution successfully combines the characteristics of technological sovereignty (domestic component base, open-source stack, rejection of dependent technologies), economic affordability, and functional flexibility. The practical significance of the project is due to its dual purpose: 1) as an import-substituting industrial solution for the automation of intra-plant logistics at small and medium-sized enterprises; 2) as a multifunctional educational and research platform that forms a personnel reserve in the field of robotics, AI, and digital manufacturing. Sponsorship information. This study was carried out within the framework of the Russian Science Foundation project No. 25-76-10024 “Monitoring the extent of soil degradation and contamination by heavy metals as a result of military operations in the Zaporizhzhia region”. EDN: SWZMIM

This article revisits gold’s role within Bretton Woods, contributing to recent efforts to develop a more global and thematically inclusive international political economy (IPE). Challenging dominant representations of the gold issue, I foreground Bretton Woods’ hidden extractive foundations through a focus on the racial politics of South African gold mining. Combining theories of extractivism with new archival research, I revisit two episodes of postwar monetary politics to uncover hidden connections between extraction, race, and ­monetary order. I argue that the relationship between international liquidity, monetary stability, and economic expansion under Bretton Woods pivoted on gold ­supply from Apartheid South Africa, threading colonial continuities of racial extractivism through postwar monetary order. South African gold’s importance to international monetary stability rose in tandem with the racial brutality of Apartheid during the 1960s, transforming the extractivist foundations of gold supply from a naturalized background condition to a central concern linking the politics of international monetary stability and racial equality. I develop the concept of the ‘monetary color line’ to trace how extractive, racial, and monetary hierarchies intersected under Bretton Woods. I show how leveraging contemporary concerns with race and extractivism disrupts settled historical understandings of IPE.

ABSTRACT This study examines how British news outlets use child-related imagery to frame migration, situating visual practices within the intersecting dynamics of dehumanisation and racialisation. The analysis is shaped by renewed public debate in early 2023 about how vulnerability and responsibility are depicted in media coverage of refugees and migrants. Focusing on four major UK outlets (BBC, Daily Mail, Metro, Financial Times), the study explores how facial visibility and thematic framing shape selective narratives of who becomes recognisable in the public sphere. Drawing on a quantitative framing analysis of 3,648 articles published over a 20-month period, including 1,685 items containing child-related visuals, the study codes facial visibility, framing themes, and nationality. The findings reveal clear nationality-based disparities: images of Ukrainian children tend to be humanising and relational, showing visible faces and everyday scenes, whereas Palestinian, Afghan, Syrian, and Rohingya children more often appear in distant, faceless, or crisis-oriented frames that limit their individuality and presence. These uneven patterns reflect what scholars describe as the global colour line and the racialised logics that shape humanitarian communication.The study shows how media representations reproduce longstanding hierarchies of humanity and contribute to broader processes of political belonging and exclusion in contemporary Britain.

Naturally colored cotton offers ecological advantages by eliminating the need for chemical dyeing; however, its limited fiber quality restricts its commercial utilization. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the potential of the SSR marker BNL1604 for marker-assisted selection in naturally colored cotton (G. hirsutum L.) and to assess fiber quality variation among hybrid progenies derived from crosses between colored and elite white-fiber cultivars. As an expected outcome of this approach, we also assessed whether hybridization of naturally colored lines with elite white-fiber cultivars could contribute to the improvement of fiber quality traits in segregating progenies. Five colored lines (brown and green), three elite cultivars, and fifteen derived F3 progenies were analyzed. Fiber traits, including upper half mean length (UHML), strength, elongation, and micronaire, were measured using HVI. Genotyping was conducted with BNL1604, and in silico mapping localized this marker to chromosome A07, with a homoeologous region on D07. White-fiber cultivars exhibited superior fiber length (33.4-35.4 mm) and strength (>31 g·tex-1) compared with colored lines. Several F3 hybrids exhibited transgressive segregation (progeny with trait values significantly exceeding those of both parents, as confirmed by frequency distribution and ANOVA analyses). For instance, the F3 (C-6577 × L-4099) hybrid achieved UHML values of 30.51 mm and strength > 31.93 g·tex-1. Most progenies maintained optimal micronaire (4.0-4.9). It was concluded that the presence of the 107 bp allele of BNL1604 marker was strongly associated with high-quality fiber, specifically improved fiber strength and length. In silico annotation revealed candidate genes near the BNL1604 locus linked to fiber development. These findings highlight the potential of combining hybridization with selection based on the presence of this 107 bp allele to develop high-quality, naturally colored cotton cultivars.

The paper presents a developed software platform for controlling unmanned devices with the ability to dynamically change algorithms and control modes without the need to stop work or flash the equipment. The main purpose of creating this system is to ensure flexible adaptation of unmanned devices to changing operating conditions and tasks performed. The software solution is based on a modular architecture that includes four key subsystems: subsystem for generating control commands, subsystem for executing control commands, subsystem for linking software and hardware components, and subsystem for configuration. A specialized declarative configuration description language based on an XML-like grammar has been developed for the last one, which makes it easy to integrate and modify controls. The developed system was implemented on a Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer and demonstrated high stability and performance during field tests. The experiments carried out have shown the possibility of rapid switching between different control algorithms depending on external conditions, including using visual recognition of colored lines. The architecture of the solution provides asynchronous command processing, resistance to communication loss and high execution speed — up to 83 commands per second. The platform is versatile and can be used for a wide range of unmanned devices, while providing flexibility, reliability and extensibility of control systems.

ABSTRACT This article examines how race, ethnicity, and nationality shape stratified access to free movement within three regional integration processes – ECOWAS, Mercosur, and the EU – through the lens of Du Bois’ concept of the global colour line. While free movement regimes establish rights to intraregional mobility and equal treatment, empirical evidence from interviews with 52 civil society actors and document analysis reveals persistent de facto barriers that disproportionately affect specific origin-based groups. These exclusions are primarily economically motivated, with nationality often serving as a proxy for race and ethnicity. The analysis shows that in Mercosur and the EU, vertical racial and ethnic hierarchies – rooted in (post)colonial histories – structure access to regional mobility. In ECOWAS, by contrast, access is shaped more by horizontal dynamics of belonging and competition between national and ethnic groups, while race becomes salient in migration beyond the region. By linking regional variations to global racial hierarchies, the article argues that the global colour line continues to condition access to mobility, even within so-called ‘islands of free movement’. The study offers a comparative framework to analyze how race and ethnicity operate differently across world regions, challenging the prevailing focus on race relations in White-majority destination states.

Abstract Existing studies of EU foreign policy often contrast its normative and geopolitical ambitions while overlooking its colonial entanglements. Although recent scholarship has interrogated the Union’s neo-imperial tendencies, the structuring role of race in external relations remains underexplored. This article introduces the concept of the “Mediterranean colour line” to capture how the EU’s relationship with its Southern Neighbourhood has consistently cast the region as politically marginal, economically extractable, and epistemically devalued. These hierarchies are not incidental: they are central to the reproduction of capitalism within racialized global orders. The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) provides a key site to examine these dynamics. Through a critical discourse analysis of the 2021 New Agenda for the Mediterranean, the article shows how colonial logics are retooled in the language of reform, resilience, and partnership. By focusing on digital transition and green growth—domains rarely read through race—the analysis demonstrates how racial capitalist governance persists precisely where its effects are most obscured.

Guided Search (GS) has been an effective computational model for studying visual search involving rudimentary stimuli, such as lines of various colors and orientations. The visual qualities of such stimuli can often be operationalized based on wavelength of light or degree of rotation, but this kind of quantification is not as straightforward for more complex visual stimuli, such as images of real-world objects. In the current investigation, we propose a method to use a multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of search stimuli as input into a modified GS model. To test the effectiveness of the proposed GS "plug-in," we conducted two experiments in which participants searched for novel objects among distractors that varied in how similar they were to the target and to each other (defined by distance in MDS space). Search was more efficient when distractors were dissimilar from the target compared to when they were similar to the target. Modeled data from the modified GS model effectively captured trends in target-present responses. This analysis supports the use of MDS to model similarity and suggests that it may be a viable tool for extending computational uses of GS, as well as for further investigating target-absent responses within the GS framework.

Motion-blurred image restoration in haze weather based on the color line model

This study was conducted to evaluate the yield potential, yield components and some agronomic traits of 8 natural color cotton elite lines, which were improved by the National Corn and Sorghum Research Center [NCSRC], tested with 2 check varieties; Dora11, and Srisumrong60 in the early rainy season of 2022 at the NCSRC, Faculty of Agriculture, Kasetsart University, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand. The randomized complete block design [RCBD] with 3 replications was used with 25 plants/row, 4 rows/experimental unit, and data were recorded from middle row. It was found that 9 of 11 recorded traits of the tested cotton varieties/lines were significantly different. It comprised no. of days to 50% boll opening (107-114 days), plant ht (135-164 cm), no. of vegetative branch (1.2-3.4 branches/plant), no. of fruiting branch (12.3-14.6 branches/plant), seed wt (8.2-13.4 g/100 seeds), boll wt (4.28-5.71 g/boll), seed cotton yield (194-262 kg/rai), cotton lint yield (70-108 kg/rai), and ginning outturn (30.9-41.9%). While no. of days to 50% flowering (53-55 days) and no. of boll/plant (51.7-58.3 balls/plant) had a non-significant difference. The result of this study indicated that natural color cotton lines W535, W537 and W536 had a trend for higher lint yield than Dora11, Srisumrong60. The lint yields were 108, 105, 103, 93 and 80 kg/rai, respectively. While other 5 natural color lines had lint yield of 70-94 kg/rai.

ABSTRACT Existing studies of AUKUS have explored the security partnership’s geopolitics, diplomatic fallout, and technological potentials. However, they have not considered the foundational importance of historical, racialised warfare. Indeed, mainstream International Relations theories tend to exclude race as a formative influence on world order building and AUKUS’ political elites display ‘silent whiteness’. For both, the ties that bind remain unspoken. To remedy this, the article theorises the affective politics of racialised military superiority, and the productive role played by Anglosphere aphasia, as both combine to make possible AUKUS’ contemporary security possibilities. The article draws on a large comparative computer-aided content analysis, coupled to thirty-five elite interviews, which together enable a narratological analysis of racialised violence and constructivist analysis of contemporary security silences. It concludes by calling for a new, critical research agenda, and urgent, open debate on the problematic underpinnings of AUKUS—an unspoken formative ontology of recurrent, imbalanced, and racialised conflict.

Two new species of the subgenus Cryptocephalus Geoffroy, 1762 are described from China: Cryptocephalus (s. str.) longwangshanus Duan, Wang & Zhou, sp. nov. from Zhejiang, Hunan, and Guangxi; C. (s. str.) yangae Duan, Wang & Zhou, sp. nov. from Sichuan and Yunnan. One species is a new country record from China, Cryptocephalus (s. str.) inhumeralis Pic, 1922. High quality color images and line drawings of adult habitus, aedeagus and other important structures are provided for the new species and the new country record species. All the types of the new species are deposited in the collection of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IZ-CAS).

ABSTRACT Toni Morrison’s work of fiction Beloved is not only a story of emancipation from slavery but also a critical discourse of philosophy. This article, with the help of textual analysis, will make an attempt to demonstrate the philosophical gap that exists between using one’s body as commodity and liberating one’s skin (color/soul/self) from that body. The gap is the death, if not a physical one then death of the self, of one’s soul. “We die. That may be the meaning of our lives” (Morrison 1994) is an extension of Toni Morrison’s realization of perceiving physical life through an African American lens. Considering the color line political discourse as a stimulating factor and the history of slavery as background force, this article will make an attempt to add some philosophical values associated in the writings of Toni Morrison. At the same time, this article will try to figure out the critical discourse of mother-daughter relationships between Baby Suggs and Sethe and Sethe and Beloved to understand the philosophical meaning of life with the help of some scholarly criticisms and references from the text.