The possibility of ideography is an empirical question. Prior examples of graphic codes do not provide compelling evidence for the infeasibility of ideography, because they fail to satisfy essential cognitive requirements that have only recently been revealed by studies of representational systems in cognitive science. Design criteria derived from cognitive principles suggest how effective graphic codes may be engineered.

The critical effect of the windward interior angles of elastically mounted trapezoidal bodies on a galloping instability is numerically investigated in this paper using two methodologies of high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics simulations and data-driven stability analysis using the eigensystem realization algorithm. A micro exploration of the dynamical response is processed to understand the mechanism underpinning the structural amplification at the initial stage of the galloping instability and the competition between wake and structural modes. It is observed that very small changes in the windward interior angle of an isosceles-trapezoidal body can provoke or suppress galloping – indeed, a small decrease or increase (low to $1^\circ$) of the windward interior angle from a right angle ($90^\circ$) can result in a significant enhancement and complete suppression, respectively, of the galloping oscillations. This supports our hypothesis that the contraction and/or expansion (viz., fore-aft tapering and/or widening) of the cross-section in the streamline direction has potential influences on galloping triggering from the geometrical perspective. The data-driven stability analysis is also applied to verify and analyse this phenomenon from the perspective of modal analysis. The experimental measurements are also conducted in the wind tunnel to support this hypothesis.

New stalagmites from Qadisha Cave (Lebanon) located at 1720 m above sea level provide a high-resolution and well-dated record for northern Mount Lebanon. The stalagmites grew discontinuously from 9.2 to 5.7 and at 3.5 ka, and they show a tendency to move from a more negative oxygen isotope signal at ~9.1 ka to a more positive signal at ~5.8 ka. Such a trend reflects a change from a wetter to a drier climate at high altitudes. The δ13C signal shows rapid shifts throughout the record and a decreasing trend toward more negative values in the mid-Holocene, suggesting enhanced soil activity. In the short-term trend, Qadisha stalagmites record rapid dry/wet changes on centennial scales, with a tendency to more rapid dry events toward the mid-Holocene. Such changes are characterized by overall good agreement between both geochemical proxies and stalagmite growth and might be affected by the seasonal variations in snow cover. The Qadisha record is in good agreement with other Levantine records, showing more humid conditions from 9 to 7 ka. After 7 ka, a drier climate seems to affect sites at both low- and high-altitude areas. The Qadisha record reflects uniquely mountainous climate characteristics compared with other records, specifically the effect of snow cover and its duration regulating the effective infiltration.

The physics of leading-edge vortex (LEV) stability on flapping wings and autorotating seeds is still underexplored due to its complex dependency on Reynolds number ($\textit {Re}$), aspect ratio (AR) and Rossby number (Ro). Our previous study observed an interesting dual-stage vortex tilting between radial and tangential components in a stable LEV. Here, the establishment of this novel mechanism, i.e. dual-stage radial–tangential vortex tilting (DS-VT$_{r-t}$), is investigated and explained in detail using numerical methods. The contributions of other tangential vorticity transport terms are also considered. It is shown that the stable LEV region coincides mostly with a constant ratio of tangential and radial vorticity components. The DS-VT$_{r-t}$ mechanism functions as a negative feedback loop for radial vorticity, thereby contributing to the LEV stability at $\textit {Re} > 500$. Specifically, this mechanism involves a dual-stage vortex tilting starting from negative radial component to positive tangential component, and then back to positive radial component, thereby leading to a $180^{\circ }$ reversal of radial vorticity. The radial Coriolis acceleration can also assist the DS-VT$_{r-t}$ by enhancing the tangential vorticity component and the reduction of radial vorticity inside the LEV via the second stage of DS-VT$_{r-t}$. The effects of $\textit {Re}$, AR and Ro on the constant radial–tangential vorticity ratio and DS-VT$_{r-t}$ are then analysed. The coupled effects of AR and Ro are separated into rotational effects and those of tip and root vortices. Our results establish an evident relationship among the LEV stability, the constant radial–tangential vorticity ratio, and the DS-VT$_{r-t}$, thereby deepening the understanding in the vorticity transport of LEV formation and stability.

We investigate the scaling properties of the primary flow modes and their sensitivity to aspect ratio in a liquid gallium (Prandtl number $Pr = 0.02$) convection system through combined laboratory experiments and numerical simulations. We survey cylindrical aspect ratios $1.4 \le \varGamma \le 3$ and Rayleigh numbers $10^{4} \lesssim Ra \lesssim 10^{6}$. In this range the flow is dominated by a large-scale circulation (LSC) subject to low-frequency oscillations. In line with previous studies, we show robust scaling of the Reynolds number $Re$ with $Ra$ and we confirm that the LSC flow is dominated by a jump-rope vortex (JRV) mode whose signature frequency is present in velocity and temperature measurements. We further show that both $Re$ and JRV frequency scaling trends are relatively insensitive to container geometry. The temperature and velocity spectra consistently show peaks at the JRV frequency, its harmonic and a secondary mode. The relative strength of these peaks changes and the presence of the secondary peak depend highly on aspect ratio, indicating that, despite having a minimal effect on typical velocities and frequencies, the aspect ratio has a significant effect on the underlying dynamics. Applying a bandpass filter at the secondary frequency to velocity measurements reveals that a clockwise twist in the upper half of the fluid layer coincides with a counterclockwise twist in the bottom half, indicating a torsional mode. For aspect ratio $\varGamma = 3$, the unified LSC structure breaks down into multiple rolls in both simulation and experiment.

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) swarm coverage is one of the key technologies for multi-UAV cooperation, which plays an important role in collaborative investigation, detection, rescue and other applications. Aiming at the coverage optimisation problem of UAV in the target area, a collaborative visual coverage control method under positioning uncertainty is presented. First, the visual perception area with imprecise localisation, UAV model and sensor model are created based on the given task environment. Second, a regional division algorithm for the target task area is designed based on the principle of Guaranteed Voronoi (GV) diagram. Then a visual area coverage planning algorithm is designed, in which the task area is allocated to the UAV according to the corresponding weight coefficient of each area, and the input control law is adjusted by the expected state information of the UAV, so that the optimal coverage quality target value and the maximum coverage of the target area can be achieved. Finally, three task scenarios for regional division and coverage planning are simulated respectively, the results show that the proposed area coverage planning algorithm can realise the optimal regional distribution and can obtain more than 90% coverage in different scenarios.

The great demographic pressure brings tremendous volume of beef demand. The key to solve this problem is the growth and development of Chinese cattle. In order to find molecular markers conducive to the growth and development of Chinese cattle, sequencing was used to determine the position of copy number variations (CNVs), bioinformatics analysis was used to predict the function of ZNF146 gene, real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used for CNV genotyping and one-way analysis of variance was used for association analysis. The results showed that there exists CNV in Chr 18: 47225201-47229600 (5.0.1 version) of ZNF146 gene through the early sequencing results in the laboratory and predicted ZNF146 gene was expressed in liver, skeletal muscle and breast cells, and was amplified or overexpressed in pancreatic cancer, which promoted the development of tumour through bioinformatics. Therefore, it is predicted that ZNF146 gene affects the proliferation of muscle cells, and then affects the growth and development of cattle. Furthermore, CNV genotyping of ZNF146 gene was three types (deletion type, normal type and duplication type) by Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qPCR). The association analysis results showed that ZNF146-CNV was significantly correlated with rump length of Qinchuan cattle, hucklebone width of Jiaxian red cattle and heart girth of Yunling cattle. From the above results, ZNF146-CNV had a significant effect on growth traits, which provided an important candidate molecular marker for growth and development of Chinese cattle.

This paper presents a preliminary study into the spatial features that can be used to distinguish creativity andefficiency in design layouts, and the distinct pattern of cognitive and metacognitive activity that is associated with creative design. In a design experiment, a group of 12 architects were handed a design brief. Their drawing activity was recorded and they were required to externalize their thoughts during the design process. Both design solutions and verbal comments were analysed and modelled. A separate group of experienced architects used their expert knowledge to assign creativity and efficiency scores to the 12 design solutions. The design solutions were evaluated spatially. Protocol analysis studies including linkography and macroscopic analysis were used to discern distinctive patterns in the cognitive and metacognition activity of designs marked with the highest and least creativity scores. Entropy models of the linkographs and knowledge graphs were further introduced Finally, we assessed how creativity and efficiency correlates to experiment variables, cognitive activity, metacognitive activity, spatial and functional distribution of spaces in the design solutions, and the number and type of design constraints applied through the course of design. Through this investigation, we suggest that expert knowledge can be used to assess creativity and efficiency in designs. Our findings indicate that efficient layouts have distinct spatial features, and that cognitive and metacognitive activity in design that yields a highly creative outcome corresponds to higher frequencies of design moves and higher linkages between design moves.

Capacity development is critical to long-term conservation success, yet we lack a robust and rigorous understanding of how well its effects are being evaluated. A comprehensive summary of who is monitoring and evaluating capacity development interventions, what is being evaluated and how, would help in the development of evidence-based guidance to inform design and implementation decisions for future capacity development interventions and evaluations of their effectiveness. We built an evidence map by reviewing peer-reviewed and grey literature published since 2000, to identify case studies evaluating capacity development interventions in biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. We used inductive and deductive approaches to develop a coding strategy for studies that met our criteria, extracting data on the type of capacity development intervention, evaluation methods, data and analysis types, categories of outputs and outcomes assessed, and whether the study had a clear causal model and/or used a systems approach. We found that almost all studies assessed multiple outcome types: most frequent was change in knowledge, followed by behaviour, then attitude. Few studies evaluated conservation outcomes. Less than half included an explicit causal model linking interventions to expected outcomes. Half of the studies considered external factors that could influence the efficacy of the capacity development intervention, and few used an explicit systems approach. We used framework synthesis to situate our evidence map within the broader literature on capacity development evaluation. Our evidence map (including a visual heat map) highlights areas of low and high representation in investment in research on the evaluation of capacity development.

Three tapeworm species belonging to the genus Atractolytocestus Anthony, 1958 (Cestoda: Caryophyllidea) were reported from the common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., 1758 in the People's Republic of China so far: Atractolytocestus sagittatus; Atractolytocestus tenuicollis; and Atractolytocestus huronensis. In this study, we identified a putatively new tapeworm species in common carp from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in Central China (Hubei Province). The species is morphologically similar to A. sagittatus, but it differed conspicuously in sequences of three molecular markers. Ribosomal internal transcribed spacers 2 sequence identity of the new species was 94.7–95.5%, 91.8–92.7% and 80.0–83.9% with A. huronensis, A. tenuicollis and A. sagittatus, respectively. cytochrome c oxidase and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 3 sequence identity with these three species was lower than 92%. We conclude that this is a new tapeworm species, and we named it after the locality: Atractolytocestus danjiangkouensis n. sp.

The root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne javanica, is a major problem for the production of Sacha Inchi plants. We examined the effects of strip intercropping of Sacha Inchi/Chinese leek of 3–4 years on the seasonal dynamics of plant and soil traits in tropical China. Results indicated that in the intercropping system, a partially temporal divergence of belowground resource acquisition via niche separation occurred throughout the growing seasons, besides a complete spatially-separated plant height between the two crops. Compared with Sacha Inchi monoculture, the increased seed yield per unit area in the intercropping system was mainly attributed to the higher plant survival rate, rather than the enhanced plant traits of healthy plants. Intercropping greatly suppressed M. javanica populations only in the wet season, compared with monoculture; which may be associated with the combined effects of the direct allelopathy and indigenous microbe induced-suppressiveness. Intercropping did not affect microbial richness and α-diversity in the rhizosphere, except for the decreased fungal richness. Both bacterial and fungal composition and structure were diverged between monoculture v. intercropping system. The relative abundances of the dominant bacterial genera (Bacillus, Gaiellales, Lactococcus, Massilia and Lysobacter, etc.) differed significantly between the two cropping systems. For fungi, intercropping decreased the relative abundances of Fusarium and Gibberella, but increased those of Nectriaceae_unclassified, Chaetomiaceae, Humicola and Mortierella. Overall, Sacha Inchi/Chinese leek intercropping suppressed M. javanica populations and shifted microbial compositions (especially decreased pathogen-containing Fusarium). The increased yield and economic returns in this intercropping system provide valid information for the effective agricultural management.