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We experimentally realize higher-order catastrophic structures in light fields presenting solutions of the paraxial diffraction catastrophe integral. They are determined by potential functions whose singular mapping manifests as caustic hypersurfaces in control parameter space. By addressing different cross-sections in the higher-dimensional control parameter space, we embed swallowtail and butterfly catastrophes with varying caustic structures in the lower-dimensional transverse field distribution. We systematically analyze these caustics analytically and observe their field distributions experimentally in real and Fourier space. Their spectra can be described by polynomials or expressions with rational exponents capable to form a cusp.

Climate catastrophe insurance is an important tool for advancing China's comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation efforts and an important part of modernizing China's national emergency management capabilities. Based on the understanding of the definition of catastrophe and China's climate catastrophe, this paper systematically analyzes the main problems and challenges faced by China's climate catastrophe risk management and elaborates on the characteristics of the current opportunities for the development of China's climate catastrophe insurance. The paper then summarizes the development features of international catastrophe insurance systems, compares the features of the Shenzhen and Ningbo pilots of catastrophe insurance in China, and proposes key focus points for the meteorological department to participate in climate catastrophe insurance. Finally, this paper proposes measures to enhance climate catastrophe insurance in China in future from the development of international catastrophe insurance and China's climate catastrophe pilot work. Firstly, consider the whole process of comprehensive disaster prevention and mitigation concept and play the role of the government and the market and other multi-body, to explore the construction of the catastrophe insurance system. Secondly, establish a special or comprehensive catastrophe insurance fund. Thirdly, promote the formation of public–private partnership sharing mechanism. Fourthly, the government should provide appropriate legal and policy support. Fifthly, use the market mechanisms to reduce government pressure on public finances in catastrophe insurance.

This comprehensive overview of global emergency management provides practitioners and students alike with an understanding of the disaster management profession by using a global perspective, including the different sources of risk and vulnerability, the systems that exist to manage hazard risk, and the many stakeholders involved. This update examines the impact of recent large-scale and catastrophic disaster events on countries and communities, as well as their influence on disaster risk reduction efforts worldwide. It expands coverage of small-island developing states and explores the achievements of the United Nations Hyogo Framework for Action (2005-2015) and the priorities for action in the Post-2015 Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction currently under development.

To solve the problem of destabilization catastrophe damage to easily weathered granite (EWG) which is easy to soften and disintegrate after absorbing water, there is an urgent need to study the destabilization catastrophe warning of EWG. The destabilization and catastrophe damage characteristics of EWG were analyzed from the perspective of energy accumulation and dissipation. First, the relevant data of EWG were obtained by uniaxial compression and acoustic emission (AE) test. The abrupt characteristics of the evolution of the elastic strain energy (ESE) curve are discussed. Meanwhile, the cusp catastrophe theory is introduced, and the cusp catastrophe warning model of destabilizing mutation of EWG is constructed based on the strain sequence of ESE. Then, the mutation interval, early warning point, and the early warning interval of EWG under uniaxial compression are defined. Finally, the reasonableness of the cusp catastrophe warning model was verified by the precursor information characteristics of AE parameters. The results of the study can be helpful for the early warning and prevention of destabilizing mutations in EWG.

We present a framework for analyzing collections of interacting hysterons through the lens of catastrophe theory. By modeling hysteron dynamics as a gradient system, we show how to construct hysteron transition graphs by characterizing the fold bifurcations of the dynamical system. Transition graphs represent the sequence of hysterons switching states, providing critical insights into the collective behavior of driven disordered media. Extending this analysis to higher codimension bifurcations, such as cusp bifurcations and crossings of fold curves, allows us to map out how the topology of transition graphs changes with variations in system parameters. This approach can suggest strategies for designing metamaterials capable of encoding targeted memory and computational functionalities, but it also highlights the rapid increase of design complexity with system size, further underscoring the computational challenges of controlling large hysteretic systems.

Since the early 2000s, climate-pessimism has become a very popular film subject, reflecting some of the anxieties of today’s society. Thus disaster, dystopian and post-apocalyptic films are not only entertainment and manifestations of certain fashion effects, they are also a reflection of the scientific advances of their time. In this article, 55 films were selected based on the different representations of the climate and weather conditions they offer. The climate is presented and perceived very differently from one film to another. Although climate change has often become a privileged context in the scenarios of recent films, it is not necessarily put forward compared to other large-scale threats that humanity could face. Hostile weather and climate conditions provide an adequate atmosphere that points out the suffering conditions of the protagonists. The analysis of weather-climate phenomena highlights certain attempts to refer to recognized scientific work and results, if possible, in connection with phenomena with spectacular and catastrophic impacts, which allows to send warning messages to the spectators. Many films also tend to place the Earth into aridity. Beyond the more or less reliable scientific significance of a possible aridification according to the scenario concerned, the aesthetics of desert environments (sand-invaded cities, dust storms) is undoubtedly a deliberately desired effect in this category of films.

The human brain has the capacity to rapidly change state, and in epilepsy these state changes can be catastrophic, resulting in loss of consciousness, injury and even death. Theoretical interpretations considering the brain as a dynamical system suggest that prior to a seizure, recorded brain signals may exhibit critical slowing down, a warning signal preceding many critical transitions in dynamical systems. Using long-term intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) recordings from fourteen patients with focal epilepsy, we monitored key signatures of critical slowing down prior to seizures. The metrics used to detect critical slowing down fluctuated over temporally long scales (hours to days), longer than would be detectable in standard clinical evaluation settings. Seizure risk was associated with a combination of these signals together with epileptiform discharges. These results provide strong validation of theoretical models and demonstrate that critical slowing down is a reliable indicator that could be used in seizure forecasting algorithms. Critical slowing (associated with increased variance and autocorrelation) can precede critical state transitions. Here, the authors show critical slowing can be used as a marker in seizure forecasting algorithms.

This paper examines how routine patterns are recognized as either stable or flexible and which mechanisms are enacted to maintain this patterning work. We address this question through an ethnographic case study analyzing how a catastrophe management organization enacts routines in a highly dynamic setting. Our findings first of all reveal that patterns described by the participants as either stable or flexible were nevertheless both performed differently in each iteration of the routine. Our microlevel analysis shows that to enact patterns that participants perceive as stable, participants had to carry out specific aligning and prioritizing activities that lock-stepped performances. In contrast, participants perceive patterns as flexible when they enact specific selecting and recombining activities. Building on these observations, we add to extant routine literature by (1) differentiating between stability, standardization, flexibility, and change of routines and by (2) providing new insights on mindfulness in accounting for the microlevel activities enacted to orient toward a pattern that enhances standardization or flexibility in dynamic contexts. Moreover, (3) our insights point to the centrality of knowing for the enactment and recognition of patterning work.

Chemoresistance of cancer cells is a major problem in treating cancer. Knowledge of how cancer cells may die or resist cancer drugs is critical to providing certain strategies to overcome tumour resistance to treatment. Paclitaxel is known as a chemotherapy drug that can suppress the proliferation of cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and induction of mitotic catastrophe. However, today, it is well known that paclitaxel can induce multiple kinds of cell death in cancers. Besides the induction of mitotic catastrophe that occurs during mitosis, paclitaxel has been shown to induce the expression of several pro-apoptosis mediators. It also can modulate the activity of anti-apoptosis mediators. However, certain cell-killing mechanisms such as senescence and autophagy can increase resistance to paclitaxel. This review focuses on the mechanisms of cell death, including apoptosis, mitotic catastrophe, senescence, autophagic cell death, pyroptosis, etc., following paclitaxel treatment. In addition, mechanisms of resistance to cell death due to exposure to paclitaxel and the use of combinations to overcome drug resistance will be discussed.