The transmembrane complex formed by TREM2 (Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid cells 2) and DAP12 (DNAX-activating protein of 12 kDa) constitutes a pivotal therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease. However, the intrinsic plasticity of its interface poses a formidable challenge for structure-based discovery of protein-protein interaction stabilizers (PPI stabilizers). Conventional approaches, ranging from static molecular docking to geometric deep learning, fail to capture the subtle interfacial energetics required for stabilizing this assembly, often leading to erroneous activity predictions. Here, we present MechMemDyn, a novel predictive framework that uniquely integrates protein frustration analysis with membrane-embedded molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic application of frustration analysis to rationalize PPI-stabilizing activity and guide ligand design. By mapping the local frustration landscape, we identify critical, minimally frustrated contact networks at the protein interface, which are essential for stabilizing the PPI. We demonstrate that the ability of a ligand to dampen distance fluctuations within these key networks, a metric rooted in thermodynamic rigor, correlates strongly with experimental potency. This method outperforms conventional static docking, AI-driven dynamic docking approaches, and standard molecular simulations, providing a more accurate and reproducible basis for cross-ligand comparison. This work not only resolves the intractability of the TREM2-DAP12 complex but also establishes a physics-driven paradigm for targeting dynamic transmembrane interfaces via frustration-optimized PPI stabilizers.

Interfacial water organization and dynamics govern protein stability and function across molecular to supramolecular scales. Annexin V (AnxA5), a membrane repair protein, forms 2D assemblies on lipid membranes, yet the hydration role in repair remains unexplored. Combining three-dimensional atomic force microscopy (3D-AFM) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we resolve the 3D hydration architecture of AnxA5 assemblies at molecular resolution. AnxA5 is enveloped by a continuous, nonlayered hydration network extending 1.5-2 nm into bulk solvent, exhibiting quasi-periodic lateral organization across crystalline and noncrystalline trimer domains. MD simulations indicate this network forms dynamic hydrogen-bonded bridges that may stabilize interdomain junctions, thereby modulating the local energy landscape. This hydration-dependent configurational flexibility, coupled with thermal fluctuations, drives stochastic, reversible trimer rotation, potentially modulating membrane interactions and Ca2+ coordination. Our findings establish interfacial water as a key mediator of supramolecular organization and stabilization, proposing a mechanism for hydration-mediated conformational flexibility during Annexin-driven membrane repair.

Public bilingual education in Quindío is often lauded as exemplary in Colombia (Gobernación del Quindío, 2018; El Espectador, 2023; El Quindiano, 2019). However, a critical examination of the criteria underlying such commendations reveals a linguistic, political, discursive, and ideological landscape in which the terms “bilingual education” and “bilingualism” deserve to be discussed, given social phenomena in the country and the evolution of pedagogy, applied linguistics, and language teaching. This study proposes a Critical Discourse Analysis of different trends in bilingual education in Quindío, paying particular attention to how bilingualism has been understood in the department’s educational policies. Using documentary analysis (Bowen, 2009), the study analyzes and discusses the different conceptions of bilingualism and bilingual education contained in public educational documents such as departmental and municipal bilingualism projects, Institutional Educational Projects, curricula, and area plans of some traditional public schools in the department during the last two decades. The study demonstrates how deeply ingrained language ideologies influence the discourses found in local official educational documents and the foreign language teaching practices in public schools. Nonetheless, the analysis of recent documents also shows a different view of multilingualism, understood from more plural perspectives that include other languages present in the local educational landscape and often neglected by monoglossic ideologies that tend to privilege just English teaching and learning in Quindio’s public schools, such as French, sign languages, among others. This article aims to advance the current understanding of bi/multilingualism and language education in the region.

The 2019–2020 wildfires in south-eastern Australia were the most extensive and severe of any recorded since European settlement, and the impacts of these fires on biodiversity are expected to be devastating. By using walked spotlighting transects, we investigated the impact of these fires on two forest-dependent species, the greater glider and yellow-bellied glider, across a range of sites in both north-eastern and south-eastern New South Wales (NSW), where one or both species were known to be present before the fires. In 2020–2021, in north-eastern NSW, greater gliders were observed at 57 (76%) of the 75 sites where they had been recorded previously, and at an additional three sites where they had not been recorded. Yellow-bellied gliders were observed at 11 (23%) of the 48 sites where they had been recorded previously. In 2021, in south-eastern NSW, greater gliders were still present at all nine long-term sites, but in greatly reduced numbers on the burnt sites. The yellow-bellied glider was also reduced in abundance on the burnt sites. We found no significant relationship between glider presence for both species and fire severity in the local landscape in both regions; however, greater glider counts were reduced on most severely burnt sites. Other factors, including elevation and logging history (indicators of habitat quality), appeared to condition fire effects. The decline in populations of both species at low–moderate elevations, regardless of fire severity, is of concern and requires further investigation. Climate change and the associated impacts of prolonged droughts, extended heatwaves, and more frequent wildfires could largely be responsible for some of these changes in glider occupancy.

ABSTRACT Understanding the complex linkages between landscape patterns and ecosystem service multifunctionality (ESMF) and ecosystem service (ES) trade‐offs is crucial for sustainable land management. However, few studies have examined how these relationships vary non‐linearly and spatially under alternative future development pathways. This study developed an integrated framework that combined land‐use simulation, ES assessment, machine learning, and spatial analysis. It was employed to examine how landscape patterns influence ESMF and ES trade‐offs in 2040 under the business‐as‐usual (BAU), cropland protection (CP), and ecological priority (EP) scenarios in the Xiamen–Zhangzhou–Quanzhou metropolitan area. The results show that the EP scenario generally provided the favorable basis for maintaining multifunctionality and avoiding severe trade‐offs. Landscape composition dominated variation in ESMF and ES trade‐off intensity, whereas landscape configuration moderated ES trade‐offs across scenarios and sub‐basins. The combined partial dependence plot (PDP) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis further show that landscape‐ES relationships were governed by scenario‐dependent non‐linear response ranges together with strong local spatial heterogeneity. Forest cover generally promoted ESMF, with the most effective response range occurring at approximately 40%–50%. By contrast, built‐up land consistently suppressed ESMF and shifted several trade‐off relationships toward low‐level equilibrium state. Cropland became more influential under the CP and EP scenario, and the ecological meaning of landscape diversity varied across local landscape contexts. These findings show that similar landscape changes may generate contrasting ES outcomes across scenarios and sub‐basins, and they provide a spatially explicit, scenario‐dependent basis for differentiated land management.

The central idea in this article is that tropical landscapes are not uniform and that reducing such physical worlds to a set of generic material signifiers—as is the case in tropical tourism discourses—impoverishes place narratives. I base my attempt at increasing the multiplicity of tropical landscapes on the discussion of such landscapes in Lévi-Strauss’s famed Tristes Tropiques. The latter combines approaches not often associated with the anthropologist: namely, an autobiographical/confessional mode of writing and a materialist-cum-phenomenological approach to the physical landscapes encountered. I examine how Tristes Tropiques narrates the sensorial qualities of the contrasting “wet” and “dry” tropics of Brazil; and how the book disrupts the wet/dry binary in fascinating ways. The notion of “surrendering to the tropics” advanced here combines Lévi-Strauss’s account with the phenomenology of lesser-known sociologist of knowledge Kurt H. Wolff. In Surrender and Catch, Tristes Tropiques is cited as a forerunner to surrender as “total involvement”; and both books highlight the fusing of time, space, and felt experience in seeing the world afresh. In the last section, I document my own surrender processes to the dry tropics of North Queensland, Australia; and discuss the place narratives of regional organizations that either acknowledge or elide (through a tourist gaze) the “brownness” of the local landscape. The article concludes by highlighting how, what Denis Cosgrove terms the tropics as physical “encounter”, gives the narrating of wet and dry tropical landscapes an ontological and existential edge.

This article aims to delve into the historical roots, as well as the potentially challenging educational landscape, of the municipality of Girau do Ponciano, Alagoas, focusing on its educational development through a historical overview. By recounting, in a discursive manner, the trajectory of its formation, from the arrival of Ponciano, its first inhabitant and founder, through the struggles for its emancipation, to its identity consolidation, it seeks to understand, broadly and consistently, how geographical, social, and economic elements have shaped and continue to influence the local school landscape throughout the history of this municipality. This journey through Girau do Ponciano aims to present the reader with a synthetic yet contextualized overview that may underpin the analysis of any educational policy in this territory, highlighting the complexity of factors that, in addition to permeating, are inherent to the daily lives of schools and, consequently, to the individuals who comprise the school community.

Semi-natural grasslands are among the most biodiversity-rich habitats in European agroecosystems, offering a broad spectrum of resources for many species, including plants, insects, and birds, potentially increasing the provision of key ecosystem services. Grassland biodiversity can be strongly influenced by both local- and landscape-level factors. Understanding how different biodiversity facets respond to biotic and abiotic factors across spatial scales remains challenging; yet this knowledge is essential for guiding management actions that support key ecological processes in agroecosystems. Here, we adopted a multi-taxa and multi-scale approach considering five groups: plants, bees, hoverflies, orthopterans, and birds. We assessed the effects of local management (annual mowing frequency, presence of uncut refuges) and landscape features (urban and agricultural cover, landscape heterogeneity) on taxonomic and functional diversity in managed grasslands. We found that multidiversity was positively associated with the presence of uncut refuges and with landscape heterogeneity, while it was negatively associated with urban and monoculture cover at the landscape level. The effect of mowing frequency was weak, potentially due to contrasting effects on different groups. Structural equation models showed that ecological effects varied across scales, groups, and biodiversity indicators: i) local scale management was particularly correlated with indicators of plants and hoverflies; ii) landscape scale factors had a stronger relationship with birds; iii) bees and orthopterans showed relationships at both local and landscape scales. Since different scales of agroecosystems management showed contrasting effects on different groups, we emphasize the importance of planning both local- and landscape-level management to embrace different facets of biodiversity. • Grasslands are among the most biodiversity-rich habitats in European agroecosystems. • Responses of different biodiversity facets are rarely analysed simultaneously. • Both local management and landscape factors influence grasslands multidiversity. • Ecological effects can vary across scales, groups, and biodiversity indicators. • Management should consider contrasting effects on different biodiversity facets.

This article explores the life and pioneering contributions of John James De Valois, a visionary "Agricultural Missionary" who dedicated 40 years of his life to India under the American Arcot Mission. Born in Iowa, USA, in 1892 to a family of farmers, De Valois combined his deep-rooted Christian faith with professional expertise in agriculture, earning a degree from Iowa State University. He famously described himself not just as a preacher, but as a "Doctor of Soil" and a "Preacher of Better Agriculture". Upon arriving in India in 1920, De Valois faced significant challenges, including a loss of government matching grants and the need to adapt modern Western farming techniques to the local Indian landscape. Despite these hurdles, he established a massive 330-acre agricultural farm in Katpadi, Tamil Nadu. His work revolutionized rural development through the introduction of high-yield livestock (such as Rhode Island Red chickens), advanced irrigation, and the establishment of a "Summer School of Agriculture". De Valois’s educational philosophy integrated academic learning with practical field experience, transforming students into "child workers" rather than laborers, with the goal of creating future leaders for the community and church. His immense contributions to Indian agriculture and rural upliftment were recognized by the Indian government; he was awarded the "Grama Seva Shiromani" gold medal by Chief Minister K. Kamaraj and honored by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. His legacy continues through the institutions named after him and his wife, Henriette, in the Vellore Diocese.

Genetics research has transformed our understanding of human diversity, providing insights into human evolution, migration, and health. Despite its contributions, many ethical challenges remain unresolved, particularly in studies involving Indigenous or non-Western populations. Existing ethical frameworks rooted in Principlism-autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice-often fail to address issues like data ownership, informed consent, and community engagement. Furthermore, frameworks designed to address some of these limitations, such as the FAIR and CARE principles, can emphasize autonomy and universal principles over local norms that are specific to a group's cultural and communal values and diversity. We propose integrating cultural-specific common moralities alongside existing frameworks for genetics research with Indigenous peoples. As an example, we highlight the Ọmọlúàbí ideology of the Yoruba people, which offers a group-centered approach rooted in respect, humility, integrity, and communal responsibility. Ọmọlúàbí emphasizes co-creation and collaboration between researchers and communities, ensuring research aligns with local moral landscapes and community priorities. By recognizing Indigenous cultural and moral perspectives, researchers can use Ọmọlúàbí to foster trust, inclusivity, and ethical rigor, moving beyond a one-size-fits-all model. This approach can guide all stages of genetics research-from project development and data collection to interpretation and dissemination-embedding local cultural values alongside global guidelines. It also underscores building relationships through participant observation and respecting community-specific traditions and authority structures. Adopting a culturally sensitive framework like Ọmọlúàbí offers a path toward genetics research that is both respectful and equitable, bridging the divide between scientific progress and the preservation of Indigenous identities.

The species-area relationship (SAR) has long been used to predict extirpation rates from habitat loss, but these rates depend not only on habitat area but also on the surrounding landscape and species' habitat specialization. We collated global data from forest islands created by river damming and forest fragments resulting from clear-cut deforestation to examine the effects of matrix type (aquatic or terrestrial) and tree cover on avian SARs. Unlike oceanic islands, which are often millions of years old, anthropogenic forest islands provide a contemporary analog to forest fragments to understand matrix effects on SARs and serve as a baseline for worst-case scenarios of forest fragmentation. Our database comprises 50 datasets from 45 studies conducted in tropical and subtropical regions, totaling 1,954 bird species detected through 39,197 incidence records from 336 forest islands and 669 forest fragments. We found that bird extirpation rates were lower in fragments than on islands, especially for forest-dependent species compared to all species. Species losses were further reduced by increasing tree cover around forest remnants at local landscape scales of 300 m, highlighting the importance of small-scale conservation strategies. Moreover, even small forest fragments with greater nearby tree cover held high conservation value, emphasizing the crucial role of the surrounding landscape in mitigating avian extirpations from forest remnants. Beyond protecting forest remnants themselves, area-based conservation efforts would therefore be greatly enhanced by improving matrix quality and expanding tree cover in otherwise hostile landscapes.

Atomic reconstruction in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures leads to mesoscopic domains with a uniform atomic registry, profoundly altering the local potential landscape. While interlayer excitons in these domains exhibit strong many-body interactions, the extent and impact of quantum confinement on their dynamics remains unclear. We reveal that quantum confinement persists in these flat, reconstructed regions. Time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy uncovers multiple, finely spaced (∼1 meV) interlayer exciton states and correlated emission with enormous lifetime variation from subnanosecond to over 100 ns across a 10 meV energy-window. Cascade-like transitions confirm that these states originate from reconstructed domains acting as potential wells, further supported by calculations. At high excitation rates, we observe anomalous nonlinear dynamics, specifically transient photoluminescence suppression followed by gradual recovery, a phenomenon we term "quantum siphoning". Our results demonstrate that quantum confinement and nonlinear dynamics persist beyond ideal moiré paradigm, potentially enabling applications in sensing and modifying dynamics via strain engineering.

Ticks are important vectors of livestock and human pathogens in Europe. Environmental policies promoting woodland creation and habitat restoration are increasing habitat suitability for Ixodes ricinus but impacts on livestock tick-borne disease risk remain unclear. This study examined how landscape features influence tick distribution on UK dairy farms with a recent history of tick-borne disease. Questing ticks were sampled on 72 pastures in 12 dairy farms in southwest England (2376 transects), stratified by distance from pasture boundaries and adjacency to woodland or non-woodland habitats. Environmental variables were measured at transect, boundary, and pasture scales. Generalized linear mixed models identified predictors of tick presence in pastures, and nymph density at pasture boundaries. Farm-level associations between tick abundance, woodland cover, and cattle pathogen prevalence were assessed descriptively. A total of 1701 ticks were collected (91.3% nymphs). Ticks were detected on 20% of transects and in 89% of pastures, with densities strongly aggregated at pasture boundaries. The proportion of woodland cover within 50m buffers was the dominant environmental driver at both boundary and pasture scales, with greater cover associated with higher nymph densities and increased probability of tick presence. Boundaries adjacent to water also supported significantly higher nymph densities. Local landscape features, particularly woodland cover and small water bodies at boundaries, strongly influence tick distribution in UK dairy pastures. Woodland expansion through environmental schemes may therefore be associated with increased tick distribution and densities in farmed landscapes, with implications for livestock exposure and public health.

Laeonereis acuta is a polychaete species typically found at high abundance in estuarine and coastal lagoon environments. Due to its association with polluted habitats, it is commonly used in ecotoxicological studies. Moreover, its occurrence in spatially discontinuous environments with high environmental variability makes it a suitable model for evolutionary studies of local adaptation, genetic landscape, and early stages of speciation. This study aimed to develop primers and characterize microsatellite markers for L. acuta sampled from three coastal lagoons in southwestern Brazil. A total of 10 loci were characterized based on the genotyping of 40 individuals. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 19. Evidence of null alleles was detected at five loci, although their frequency decreased when coastal lagoons were analyzed separately. When considering all individuals as a single population, five loci showed positive and significant FIS values, and seven loci deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Maricá and Guarapina exhibited heterozygote excess at several loci, whereas Jaconé showed evidence of population genetic isolation. The 10 microsatellite loci were polymorphic and suitable for population genetic analysis in L. acuta, although these patterns may not necessarily be representative of other geographic regions. These markers may contribute to ecotoxicological studies by clarifying whether physiological responses to pollutants are associated with genetic differentiation among populations. Furthermore, they provide valuable tools for investigating genetic structure and connectivity in discontinuous environments.

ABSTRACT This study investigates the factors influencing playspace quality in Melbourne’s greenfield developments, which are home to a growing number of families with young children. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with five landscape architects and three developers, it explores how these actors define high-quality playspaces and identifies the key governance-related factors they perceive to be impacting playspace quality. Thematic analysis was used to identify and analyse these factors through the lens of the urban governance conceptual framework. Influential factors identified include policies and guidelines, maintenance and resource allocation, safety regulations and concerns, marketing tactics, and stakeholder collaboration. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the challenges and opportunities these factors present for state and local governments, property developers, and landscape architects. The findings highlight the need for clearer policies, more proactive stakeholder engagement, and stronger alignment with community needs to enhance playspace quality in greenfield developments. Future research with a larger geographical scope of growth areas and a more diverse participant sample could provide a richer understanding of these influences across a wider range of contexts and communities.

This article aims to discuss the presence of the Spanish language in Boa Vista, Roraima. This discussion is guided by the concept of linguistic landscape (LP), proposed by Landry and Bourhis (1997), which refers to the textual expressions of multilingualism in an urban context. For this analysis, this research proposes six criteria: spatial survey of the LP; identification of spheres of human activities; identification of the spatial scope; tone of writing; degree of ostensiveness and type of support – criteria of the pragmatic, discursive and textual scope. The most general result is the confirmation that one of the migratory effects is the considerable increase in the use of written and spoken Spanish in various contexts in the capital of Roraima. The search for insertion into the labor market is an explanation for this change in the local linguistic landscape in favor of Spanish.

Surface defects, such as steps and ledges, significantly modify the local energy landscape of crystalline substrates, thereby affecting adsorption, diffusion, and mixing during alloy thin-film growth. However, the atomistic mechanisms of alloy deposition on stepped metallic surfaces, particularly for NiTi systems, remain poorly understood. In this work, molecular dynamics simulations are employed to investigate the growth behavior of Ni55Ti45 thin films deposited on Ni substrates with different step geometries. The effects of incident angle, step width, surface configuration, substrate temperature, and incident energy on surface morphology, interfacial mixing, and structural evolution were systematically analyzed. The results indicate that stepped substrates significantly enhance interfacial atomic mixing compared to flat surfaces, while step width has a limited effect on surface roughness but strongly influences intermixing at the upper terrace. Increasing the incident angle intensifies shadowing effects, leading to higher surface roughness. Radial distribution function and common neighbor analyses confirm that all deposited films remain predominantly amorphous. Elevated substrate temperature promotes surface relaxation, whereas higher incident energy enhances interfacial mixing. These findings provide atomistic insight into NiTi thin-film growth on defected substrates. Classical molecular dynamics simulations were carried out using the Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator (LAMMPS). Structural evolution and atomistic mechanisms were analyzed with the Open Visualization Tool (OVITO). The surface mesh construction, radial distribution functions (RDF), common neighbor analysis (CNA), and atomic coordination analysis are used to elucidate interfacial mixing and structural evolution during thin-film growth.

Addressing the multifaceted and growing optimization challenges in various fields, including renewable energy, structural design, and large-scale industrial operations, necessitates continuous refinement of metaheuristic algorithms. The Beaver Behavior Optimizer (BBO) has recently been proposed as a competitive swarm intelligence approach. However, the original BBO mechanism still exhibits tendencies toward stagnation in high-dimensional and complex local optima landscapes due to fixed update rules. To elevate robustness and solution quality, this paper introduces an enhanced Beaver Behavior Optimizer (CCBBO), which suppresses structural bias by integrating a mathematical Crisscross-Strategy (CC). The CC mechanism, comprising Horizontal Crossover Search (HCS) and Vertical Crossover Search (VCS), strategically promotes non-linear and comprehensive information exchange across solution dimensions. This integration enables CCBBO to explore the search space more thoroughly and perform exploitation more precisely than the original BBO. The performance of CCBBO is rigorously substantiated through extensive experiments on the CEC2017 benchmark suite. The results decisively demonstrate that CCBBO achieves the best overall performance with the lowest average Friedman rank of 1.5517, significantly outperforming the original BBO (rank 2.8966) and eight other state-of-the-art optimizers. Furthermore, CCBBO is applied to a 60-dimensional real-world oil reservoir production optimization problem. Comparative analysis reveals that CCBBO consistently achieves a significantly higher mean Net Present Value (NPV) of 9.512 × 108 USD and the lowest standard deviation of 1.481 × 107 USD under identical constraints, confirming its status as a robust and stable optimization tool for tackling complex decision-making problems in engineering domains.

ABSTRACT During the first years after the establishment of the State of Israel, archeological museums were founded in all parts of the country. In this article, I will focus on the unique phenomenon of founding archeological museums in mosques that had served only a few years earlier as places of worship. Although this episode has been considered marginal by scholars, it can be seen to embody significant issues. First, it addresses the Israeli archeological establishment’s approach to the heritage assets of Arab settlements. Second, it examines the role of the “local landscape” in shaping the perception of national land in Israel’s periphery. Lastly, it explores differences regarding heritage within Israeli society itself.

Serving as a link between cities and villages, small towns play a crucial role in reducing the disparity between urban and rural areas. The spaces of small towns in Southern Jiangsu Province not only showcase the landscape style of production–living–ecological but also embody local cultural characteristics, acting as a unique “container” for preserving the memory of Jiangnan water towns. However, during the urbanization process, these spaces often fail to respect the principles of landscape locality, instead favoring standardization and efficient designs that overlook human perspectives on landscape perception and understanding. This results in the “homogenization” and “heterogenization” of Jiangnan small towns landscape spaces. As county urbanization shifts toward improving human environments, human-scale spatial perception has become key to localized planning. By combining street view photos with deep learning, the ‘2bulu’ dataset supports large-scale analysis of crowd perception and precise detection of spatial and landscape features. This study investigated the proportions of landscape elements in the small towns’ town–rural–wilderness of Wujiang District that play a direct role in shaping people’s perceived visual identity and sense of cultural resonance, assessed the spatial distribution of perceived landscape locality scores, and revealed the positive or negative correlations between the proportions of visual landscape elements and the sense of place. This study analyzed perceived landscape locality in Wujiang small towns based on crowd perception, exploring which town–rural–wilderness landscape elements are perceived as having local character, and highlighted the importance of preserving locality through integrated town–rural–wilderness landscape elements. The findings offer insights for quantitative measuring landscape locality perception and support planning of appropriate local landscapes in Jiangnan small towns.