The ground-based gravity data reveals diverse anomaly signatures in areas of the Main Ethiopian rift where active volcanic and tectonic activities are dominant. In such a region ground-based data collection is restricted to existing roads and relies on accessible stations. These resulted in gaps in data, either missing, uneven, or insufficient spatial coverage that must be estimated with proper interpolation techniques. Comparison and evaluations of the spatial interpolation methods that are commonly used in potential field geophysical data analysis were made for the terrestrial gravity and elevation data of the central Main Ethiopian rift. In this research, two widely used interpolation techniques, minimum curvature interpolation, and Ordinary Kriging were compared and assessed. A 10 % hold-out validation was employed, where 90 % of the data points were used to generate interpolated surfaces, which were then evaluated against the remaining 10 %. Following interpolation with each technique, the generated grid was converted into discrete data points (estimated values). These are then compared with the available gravity data, which were deliberately excluded from the gridding process (10 % remaining dataset). The accuracy of each method was assessed by evaluation metrics such as mean value, variance, Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), correlation coefficient (r), and R-squared. The results showed that the ordinary Kriging interpolation method outperformed the minimum curvature interpolants for gravity data with all performance metrics, while both interpolants seem to perform equally well for the elevation dataset. Therefore, it is proposed to use the Kriging interpolation method for potential field gravity studies conducted in the central Main Ethiopia rift.

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The northern Red Sea (NRS) is considered an extended continental region that has resulted in a rift system. Gravity and bathymetry data were used to estimate the Moho depth and the elastic thickness Te of the lithosphere beneath the NRS region to characterize its flexural rigidity and understand its mechanical behavior. Focusing on the Mabahiss Deep in NRS, we analyzed the lithosphere\'s flexural rigidity. The observed long-wavelength positive Bouguer anomaly is attributed to crustal thinning and lithospheric mantle uplift. The crustal thickness varies from 28 km in coastal areas to 24 km beneath the axial rift, supporting a regional compensation model over the Airy model. Forward modeling suggests that the optimal model explaining the regional Bouguer anomaly is a flexural model with Te equal to 7 km, indicating a weak and irregular continental crust. The primary factor contributing to this weakness is heating activity. Given the weakened state of the crust and the ongoing extension in the region, the NRS rift could evolve into a rupture, potentially leading to the formation of oceanic crust.

In their natural environment, animals face a variety of ecological and social challenges, which might be linked to the emergence of different cognitive skills. To assess inter-specific variation in cognitive skills, we used ungulates as a study model, testing a total of 26 captive individuals across 5 different species (i.e., dwarf goats, Capra aegagrus hircus, llamas, Lama glama, guanacos, Lama guanicoe, zebras, Equus grevyi, and rhinos, Diceros bicornis michaeli). Across species, we used the same well-established experimental procedures to test individuals\' performance in naïve physics tasks, i.e. object permanence, short-term spatial memory, causality, understanding of object properties, and gravity. Our results revealed that study subjects showed object permanence, were able to remember the position of hidden food after up to 60 s, and inferred the position of hidden food from the sound produced or not produced when shaking containers. Moreover, they showed an understanding of basic object properties, being able to locate objects hidden behind occluders based on their size and inclination, and could reliably follow the trajectory of falling objects across different conditions. Finally, inter-specific differences were limited to the understanding of object properties, and suggest that domesticated species as goats might perform better than non-domesticated ones in tasks requiring these skills. These results provide new information on the cognitive skills of a still understudied taxon and confirm ungulates as a promising taxon for the comparative study of cognitive evolution.

In numerous medical conditions, including pregnancy, gravity and posture interact to impact physiology and pathophysiology. Recent investigations, for example, pertaining to maternal sleeping posture during the third trimester and possible impact on fetal growth and stillbirth risk highlight the importance and potential clinical implications of the subject. In this review, we provide an extensive discussion of the impact of maternal posture on fetal physiology from conception to the postpartum period in human pregnancy. We conducted a systematic literature search of the MEDLINE database and identified 242 studies from 1991 through 2021, inclusive, that met our inclusion criteria. Herein, we provide a synthesis of the resulting literature. In the first section of the review, we group the results by the impact of maternal posture at rest on the cervix, uterus, placenta, umbilical cord, amniotic fluid, and fetus. In the second section of the review, we address the impact on fetal-related outcomes of maternal posture during various maternal activities (e.g., sleep, work, exercise), medical procedures (e.g., fertility, imaging, surgery), and labor and birth. We present the published literature, highlight gaps and discrepancies, and suggest future research opportunities and clinical practice changes. In sum, we anticipate that this review will shed light on the impact of maternal posture on fetal physiology in a manner that lends utility to researchers and clinicians who are working to improve maternal, fetal, and child health.

We present a new filtering method for potential fields, based on modelling the fields in terms of very compact solutions, i.e., the sources are expected to occupy the smallest allowable volume in the source domain. The selected solutions, which we call \"Extremely Compact Sources\" (ECS) form a sort of atomized model, which still satisfies the non-unique inverse problem of gravity and magnetic fields. The ECS model is not only characterized by sparsity, but also by large values of the physical property (density or magnetic susceptibility). The sparse nature of the model allows for the definition of a highly localized filter, which can be obtained by simply specifying the atoms to be selected in a given area. This feature allows managing tasks normally impossible with traditional filters, such as the separation of interfering anomalies having a similar wavenumber content. In addition, the procedure can perform a very effective regional/residual separation. We demonstrate the method on synthetic cases and apply it in the real case of gravity data of Campi Flegrei volcanic area (Italy), where we use the ECS filtering to isolate the gravity effect of the Mount Olibano dome.

Migration\'s impact spans various social dimensions, including demography, sustainability, politics, economy, and gender disparities. Yet, the decision-making process behind migrants choosing their destination remains elusive. Existing models primarily rely on population size and travel distance to explain the spatial patterns of migration flows, overlooking significant population heterogeneities. Paradoxically, migrants often travel long distances and to smaller destinations if their diaspora is present in those locations. To address this gap, we propose the diaspora model of migration, incorporating intensity (the number of people moving to a country), and assortativity (the destination within the country). Our model considers only the existing diaspora sizes in the destination country, influencing the probability of migrants selecting a specific residence. Despite its simplicity, our model accurately reproduces the observed stable flow and distribution of migration in Austria (postal code level) and US metropolitan areas, yielding precise estimates of migrant inflow at various geographic scales. Given the increase in international migrations, this study enlightens our understanding of migration flow heterogeneities, helping design more inclusive, integrated cities.

The safety concerns surrounding lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have garnered increasing attention due to their potential to endanger lives and incur significant financial losses. However, the origins of battery failures are diverse, presenting significant challenges in developing safety measures to mitigate accidental catastrophes. In this study, the aging mechanism of LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2||graphite-based cylindrical 18,650 LIBs stored at room temperature for two years was investigated. It was found that an uneven distribution of electrolytes can be caused by gravity, leading to temperature variations within the battery. Specifically, it was observed that the temperature at the top of the battery was approximately -0.89 °C higher than at the bottom, correlating with an increase in partial internal resistance. Additionally, upon disassembly and analysis of spent batteries, the most significant damage to electrode materials at the top of the battery was observed. These findings suggest that gravity-induced electrolyte insufficiency exacerbates side reactions, particularly at the top of the battery. This study offers a unique perspective on the safety concerns associated with high-energy-density batteries in long-term and large-scale applications.

The fact that objects without proper support will fall to the ground is not only a natural phenomenon, but also common sense in mind. Previous studies suggest that humans may infer objects\' stability through a world model that performs mental simulations with a priori knowledge of gravity acting upon the objects. Here we measured participants\' sensitivity to gravity to investigate how the world model works. We found that the world model on gravity was not a faithful replica of the physical laws, but instead encoded gravity\'s vertical direction as a Gaussian distribution. The world model with this stochastic feature fit nicely with participants\' subjective sense of objects\' stability and explained the illusion that taller objects are perceived as more likely to fall. Furthermore, a computational model with reinforcement learning revealed that the stochastic characteristic likely originated from experience-dependent comparisons between predictions formed by internal simulations and the realities observed in the external world, which illustrated the ecological advantage of stochastic representation in balancing accuracy and speed for efficient stability inference. The stochastic world model on gravity provides an example of how a priori knowledge of the physical world is implemented in mind that helps humans operate flexibly in open-ended environments.

BACKGROUND: The Dix-Hallpike (DH) test is a gold standard for diagnosing benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). However, lateral semicircular canal BPPV is not rare. We have been performing the new roll test that begins from the sitting position and contains a head-hanging position, in order not to overlook lateral canal BPPV. We noticed that transient vertical/torsional nystagmus sometimes occurs during the new roll test.
OBJECTIVE: To clarify the value of the new roll test in diagnosing posterior canal BPPV and elucidate the position that elicits nystagmus.
METHODS: The subjects were 100 consecutive patients (79 were female, 21 were male) with posterior canal BPPV. We classified the patients into four types based on a position that induced nystagmus.
RESULTS: The patient\'s position that elicited nystagmus varied. The supine type accounted for 24 %, the lateral type accounted for 62 %, the head-hanging type accounted for 9 %, and the DH type accounted for 5 %.
CONCLUSIONS: The new roll test is valuable for diagnosing posterior canalolithiasis cases. Most patients reveal vertical/torsional nystagmus in the supine or lateral position. Therefore, performing the new roll test first is efficient at the initial visit.